


To Be Human- Book 2

by Wrenchinator97



Series: To Be Human [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: OC centric, OC teams - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2018-09-18 00:19:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9353528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrenchinator97/pseuds/Wrenchinator97
Summary: Daniel thought that after the fiasco with Professor Glas, things would be able to go back to normal.  How horribly wrong he was.





	1. Chapter 1

The team behind the Vale News Network was working furiously to get ready for the big interview.  What with the sheer shock value of the story, it was certainly going to be a huge one; possibly the largest of the year!  And since a big interview required a big interviewer, the studio chose Lisa Lavender, their lead anchor, to conduct the interview.  She was currently in her dressing room with half a dozen attendants checking everything from her makeup to her clothes.

“A little to the left Ms. Lavender,” one attendant asked as he powdered her face.

“Thank you Ian,” Lisa Lavender said.  “How many viewers are we expecting?”

“The positive reaction to the hype campaign suggests at least six figures.  We don’t know how many from the outlying villages will see it, but I think I heard one of the producers say they were expecting six million viewers; more if it starts trending on Basebook.”

Lisa Lavender took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  “Six million.  We haven’t had something this big in years.”  She looked to another attendant.  “Viola, please go check on our guest, see that he’s alright.”

The attendant in question, a young girl with dark purple hair, stood up straight.  “Yes Mam.  Right away Mam.”  She scurried out of the dressing room and into the pandemonium that was the main stage of VNN.  Thankful that she wore flats instead of heels today, she ducked under several boom mikes being carried by sound specialists, and nimbly dodged through a horde of directors.  She was about to turn the corner when a familiar voice called her name.  She skidded to a stop and turned to see the producer approaching, puffing on a cigar.

“Viola, have you checked on our esteemed guest yet?” he asked sternly.

“Ms. Lavender just sent me sir.  I was on my way to see him now.”

“Smart woman,” the producer muttered.  “She knows a juicy story when she sees one.  That whole business with the Beacon teacher kidnapping those kids was fishy.  Just didn’t add up.  I’ll be glad once the truth is out for the whole world to see.”

“The world does deserve to know sir,” Viola agreed.  And in twelve minutes and eleven seconds, the world will know.”

The producer clapped his hand on his forehead and frantically looked at his watch.  “Good lord!” He cried out, “We still need to finish setting up the soundstage!  I must get going.  Viola, you check up on our guest and see if there’s anything we can get for him.”

Seeing her cue, Viola took off running again.  In less than a minute, she reached the ready room and skidded to a stop once more.  Taking a moment to catch her breath, she knocked sharply on the door.  “Mr. Grigio?  Can I come in?”

A muffled affirmative came from inside the room, and she opened the door and slid inside.  Compared to Lisa Lavender’s room, this one was sparsely decorated, but was small enough to make it feel well furnished.  A desk with several large mirrors sat against a wall, and a door next to it led off into a private bathroom.  The chair that normally sat in-front of the desk had been moved to face an open window, and Viola could see a pair of dress shoes resting on the windowsill.

“Mr. Grigio, my name is Viola.  I was told to come ask if there was anything you need.  We’ve got coffee and tea in the break room, and I’m sure I can find something to eat if you’re hungry.”

“No, nothing right now.”

“Are you sure sir?” Viola asked.  “If you’re nervous, I can get you something stronger.”

He laughed slightly at that.  “No, a stiff drink is the last thing I need right now.  Thank you though.”

Viola breathed a sigh of relief.  If he had wanted anything it would have meant a potentially long and stressful trip to get it, and an even more stressful trip back as she fought through hordes of people going in the opposite direction and trying to get back before he went on stage.

“Well, we go live in about nine minutes now, so if you need to use the bathroom or anything, I’d suggest going now.

“I’d better get ready then.”

Viola left the room and stepped aside as the makeup team hurried in to the room.  With all her duties satisfied, Viola wormed her way through the hordes and into the soundstage.  She found a good spot behind the cameras, and sat down to wait for the interview.  She didn’t have to wait long.  Lisa Lavender sat down on one of the plush cream couches on the stage, and her guest sat down in an identical one that faced towards her.  The VNN tune played and the cameras came on, focusing on Lisa Lavender.

“Aura,” Lisa Lavender began, “It is the projection of our souls; a physical manifestation of our life energy.  And as far as our top scientists are aware, all living creatures except for the Grimm can generate it.  But what if, there was an exception?  A boy, unable to generate an Aura, and when given a test to read his soul, came up indeterminate.  And what if that boy was enrolled in Beacon, and has been there for several months?  I’m here today with Mr. Andrew Grigio, father of Daniel Grigio, the boy without an Aura.”

**To Be Human**

**Book 2**

**“Sometimes you gotta bleed to know**

**That you’re alive and have a soul”**

**-Twenty One Pilots, Tear in my Heart**

Having finished her opening spiel, Lisa Lavender turned to Daniel’s father.  For a town drunk, he had cleaned up nicely.  His graying brown hair was trimmed and combed, he had clearly taken a shower, and he was wearing a nice suit.  Most importantly, he wasn’t the least bit intoxicated.

“Mr. Grigio, first of all I would like to thank you for coming to VNN with this information.  I have to admit though, your story seemed absolutely implausible until we had the documents you supplied checked for accuracy.”

Daniel’s father grimaced for a second as if remembering a painful memory, but quickly composed himself once more.  “The pleasure is mine Mrs. Lavender.  I felt it was time for me to stop hiding the truth from the world.  As I believe you told me earlier, the world needed to know.”

“Yes, that brings us to the first question,” Lisa Lavender said.  “When was it that you first learned that your son had no Aura?”

Although he knew the date extremely well, Daniel’s father took a moment to act like he was thinking.  “Well, it would have to be about eleven, no twelve years ago now,” he said, “After his mom died, I didn’t have enough money to take Daniel to regular checkups.  It wasn’t until he was five that I got him a full checkup with the doctors.  That was when they were unable to find an Aura on him.”

“And what exactly went through your head when this happened?” Lisa asked.

“Well, I was concerned of course.  What was a father supposed to feel when his only son has a condition like this one?  I was terrified about what could happen to Daniel.  That is why I discussed things with the doctors, and convinced them to hand all the evidence concerning my son’s condition over to myself.”

“That does raise a point though, Mr. Grigio,” Lisa Lavender said with a slight frown.  What exactly lead you to commit such an illegal act?  Surely you must have feared for the wellbeing of your child, should you be arrested.”

Daniel’s father went to stroke the scruff of a beard he usually had, only to find it wasn’t there.  “Umm, it’s kind of complicated, so please bear with me while I try.”

“Of course.”

“I can’t really explain what came over me when I hid the documents.  Something about my son’s predicament caused me to go through with it, even if it meant me going to jail.”

“So you would say your parental instinct to protect Daniel is what drove you to do it?” Lisa Lavender offered.

Daniel’s father’s head nodded vigorously.  “Yeah.  I can’t think of a better word, so let’s go with that.”

“So then why would you let him leave his home with you and enroll at Beacon to train as a Huntsman?” Lisa Lavender asked with a sudden intensely.  “Wouldn’t a school for fighting monsters and training to use your Aura for combat be the last place you would want him to be?”

A flash of anger flew across Daniel’s father’s face as his brow furrowed in concentration.  Lisa Lavender was trying to pin what had happened to Daniel on his poor parenting.  Well, that wasn’t going to happen.  He cleared his throat slightly, and countered her accusation.  “I had made it perfectly clear to Daniel that something like becoming a Huntsman was out of the question for someone with his condition.  Instead of listening to me, he instead chose disobey my direct request, and steal several hundred lien from me along with several weapons, and leave for Beacon in the middle of the night.  I didn’t hear from him again until I got a phone call saying he was in the hospital!”

“That must have been quite the shock for you, hearing nothing for weeks before your son finally shows up in a hospital in critical condition.”

“Without a doubt Lisa.  But the doctors told me that by then he was stable and was expected to make a full recovery.  When I next saw him, I was more concerned about getting him back home before something else happened to him.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Lisa Lavender’s eyebrows shot up at this.  She had not been made aware of this beforehand.  “You mean he resisted you taking him back?”

“Very much so,” Daniel’s father agreed, “He wanted to stay at Beacon and continue this mission of his that was doomed from the start.  I tried to get him to come home so we could discuss it in the safety of our house.  But I was, convinced by his teammate, who had also been injured and was recovering in a bed next to Daniel, that my son needed rest to recover from the injuries he sustained during his captivity.  He’s now back at Beacon studying.  I’ve tried to submit paperwork to remove him from the academy, but none of my requests are making it through,” he added with a hint of anger.

Lisa Lavender repositioned herself and looked at her notes.  “Well, I’ve only got a few more questions for you before we go for break.  Thank you once again for agreeing to this interview.”

“As I said Lisa, the pleasure is all mine,” he answered as he tried to fight down the anger at his son that was beginning to seep out.

“Well Mr. Grigio, despite your disagreements with your son continuing to study at Beacon, what are your thoughts about his current progress?   We asked his teachers about Daniel when we did a piece about Daniel’s kidnapping and subsequent rescue.  We understand he is doing well for, someone with his condition.”

Daniel’s father growled with irritation.  They had gotten to the part he had been looking forward to the least.  “The boy has gotten lucky.  He’s got a team to assist him in battle, and I believe there’s another team he’s befriended.  I bet at least his team knows about his condition and they assist him so he doesn’t fail.  I believe that is the only reason he has survived for so long.”

Lisa Lavender shifted nervously on her couch as Daniel’s father became increasingly angrier and angrier.  “Thank you for your, passionate appraisal of the situation Mr. Grigio.  One final question before we go to break.  Now that his secret it out to the world, do you believe that your requests to have Daniel returned to your custody will be successful?”

“I doubt it,” Daniel’s father said dismissively.  “I stopped sending them last week.”

Despite the rule of keeping silent, those watching couldn’t help but murmur at this.  They had not expected this change of events.

Lisa Lavender herself was having trouble keeping it together.  “But, but don’t you still believe your son should return home with you where he could be kept safe?”

Daniel’s father laughed without humor at that.  “Daniel has made it clear to me that he believes himself to be ready to face what the world on his own.  If he feels he’s ready to make those decisions?  He can make them.  I’ll be waiting for him to realize the mistake he’s made.”

Never had Lisa Lavender ever been so grateful to see the producer signal her to wrap it up, as they were going on break.  She straightened herself up and looked directly at Mr. Grigio.  “That’s a very interesting decision to make Mr. Gigio, I hope it pays out for you.”  Before he could say anything else, she turned to look at the camera.  “We’ll be right back folks when we continue our discussion with Mr. Grigio about his son, the boy without an Aur-”

@0@0@

Daniel turned off his tablet and sat down on his bed, trying to process what had just happened.  Did, did his father just give a live interview where he told the world Daniel’s secret?

Sensing his friend’s distress, Lewis, who had been tuning his guitar while Daniel watched something on his tablet with his earbuds in, looked at his friend with concern.  “You okay there man?” he asked.

Daniel honestly could not find words to describe how _not okay_ he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, bet you guys didn't see that one coming.  
> A little info on when updates will drop. Since I'm in college and this story is still in development, expect chapters to come out about once a month. that will give me time to keep ahead of school work, and work on the two stories I'm trying to do at the same time. Not one of my better ideas, but I'm not known for particularly good ones. So anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you next month
> 
> -Wrench


	2. Chapter 2

Lewis watched the video of Daniel’s father giving away Daniel’s secret to the world in silence.  When it ended, he fell back onto his bed with a _plop_ and pulled out a joint from his pocket, lighting it.  “Well, that’s that man.”

“That’s that?”  Daniel said practically hysterical.  “My darkest secret was just unveiled to the world, and all you have to say is ‘that’s that’?”

“Well, yeah man,” Lewis answered.  “I mean, it’s not like you were gonna keep it a secret forever, right man?”

“That’s just it Lewis, I didn’t plan on keeping my condition a secret forever.  I knew sooner or later it would have to come out”

Lewis looked at Daniel quizzically.  “So, why are you so upset man?” he asked in confusion.

Because I had a plan for all of this!” Daniel cried out.  “I, figured I’d become a Huntsman, make a name for myself, become respected, and _then_ let Remnant know that I did all of this without an Aura.  But now I’m just a student with barely any training, and a dirty secret!  That’s not how I wanted this to go!  I- I- I-”

Daniel was suddenly cut off by a paper bag thrust into his hands.  Nick, who had entered the room silently without Daniel noticing, had been on a trip to the store to purchase Dust to make his special reduced shot bullets.  Upon seeing Daniel’s predicament, he had poured the Dust out of the bag so he could hand it to Daniel.  “ _Breathe_ ,” he whispered to Daniel.

Realizing what Nick was telling him to do, Daniel shoved the bag over his mouth and began inhaling and exhaling rapidly into the bag.  Slowly, the red color on his face from exertion began to fade, and he was able to calm down.  The whispering voices, which had crept up on him unnoticed died down once more.  “Thanks Nick,” he said as he handed the bag back to his friend. 

Nick nodded briefly in response, then refilled the bag with the Dust vials and tossed it on his bed.  “What happened?” he whispered, then coughed violently and grasped the area around the still red scar on his neck.  The small scar was just over the thickness of a pencil, but was the most vivid reminder of the events that occurred just over two months ago.  Of the nine students that had been involved in the Glas incident, Nick was the only one that still needed to have regular visits to the doctors so they could view how his vocal chords were healing.  He had been freed to speak since he left the hospital, but was advised to limit himself to less than one-hundred sentences a day to prevent further damage.  Nick had evidently reached and passed that limit already.

“You need anything man?” Lewis asked as he extinguished the joint and flicked it into the trash can.  Daniel quickly moved over to the window and flung it open, allowing the smoke to drift out of the room and clear the air for his friend.

Nick shook his head at Lewis, then waved his hand at Daniel to begin his story.

“My dad just went on live television and told the world I had no Aura,” Daniel said, sitting down on Dakota’s bed.  “Now the entire world is going to learn about me.  Ozpin will probably be pressured into expelling me, and I doubt my dad will take me in again.  Bottom line, I’m up the creek without a paddle.

Nick thought for a moment, then reached into his brown duster and pulled out a pencil and a small notepad.  He flipped to a fresh page, and began writing in it.  When he finished, he reversed the notepad and handed it to Daniel.

**I don’t know ~~what will happen~~ if you will be expelled from Beacon, but you won’t be on the streets. ~~I~~ We’ll see to that.**

“Thanks Nick,” Daniel said as he handed it back to him.  “I appreciate that.”

Nick shrugged as if to say “it’s nothing,” but Daniel saw a tenseness in his teammate that he had rarely seen.  Nick was actually worried about what was going to happen.  Daniel didn’t think he had ever seen Nick worried before.  Which immediately worried him all over again.

Suddenly the door burst open and Ryler raced inside only to slam the door shut behind him.  He looked around the room with a desperate light in his eyes before diving to the ground next to Lewis’ bed and squirming underneath it.

“Ryler, this isn’t a good-” Daniel began

“Don’t tell anyone I’m here!” Ryler whispered fiercely with a tremor in his voice.  “If Schatten and Tiberius find me, I’m a dead Huntsman!”

Before Daniel could ask what Ryler meant by that, two circular blades burst from the wall around the door, and slid down the length of the wall.  Three familiar claws cut into the wall at the top of the vertical cuts and connected the two.  Without any support from the wall around it, the door fell forward and collapsed into the room.  Behind the newly expanded doorway stood a very furious looking Tiberius and Schatten.

“You- hippie.  Where is Ryler?” Tiberius seethed.  Underneath the bed, Ryler whimpered quietly.

“Hey dudes; how’s it hangin’?” Lewis asked calmly, unconcerned with the deadly ‘royal pain’ hovering over Tiberius’ head.

“How’s it hanging?  I will tell you how it is ‘hanging’,” Tiberius said angrily.  “That flower loving vegetarian I am forced to call a teammate placed his clothes in the same washer as mine and Schatten’s clothes!!  Because I was testing out the suit setting on the washer, my dress shirts and pants were in there as well!” Tiberius gestured to the clothes he was wearing as he said this.

“And?” Lewis asked, eyes blinking at them innocently.

“And his clothes bled pink all over everything!” Tiberius roared, shoving his sleeves in Daniel’s and Lewis' faces.  Daniel stared cross-eyed at the fabric and was able to see that it did seem to have a faint pink tinge to it.  Nothing that someone besides Tiberius would probably notice on first sight, but in the situation at hand he didn’t want to argue with Tiberius.

“I, see,” Daniel said carefully, not to antagonize Tiberius.  “Schatten, what got pink that’s yours?”

Schatten turned to the side and crossed his arms on his chest.  “I’d, rather not say,” he answered with a flush of embarrassment not unlike the color of Tiberius’ shirt. 

Daniel’s eyes widened.  “Oh, uh, Sorry to hear that.  I uh, hope you, ah, catch Ryler and make him pay for what he did!”

“Yeah, speaking of which, where is he?”  Schatten asked, eager to change the subject.

Without hesitation, Nick raised his hand and pointed towards the still open window.  Tiberius eyed Nick for a moment, suspicious of how quick he’d answered Tiberius.  He soon seemed to accept Nick’s testimony, and strode over to the open window, scanning the area outside.  “Blast!  He’s escaped!  Schatten, I require your Faunus abilities to locate our target.”

Schatten strode over and took a deep sniff of the outside.  “I smell something,” he reported.  “Could be him, but the wind’s blowing too strong to be sure.  Stay here and I’ll get higher ground.  Might be able to get him from there.”

“The suit is ruined anyways,” Tiberius said.  “Retribution for this atrocity can only be achieved with the blood of our teammate.”  Tiberius tossed Royal Pain out the window where they hovered in the air, dust crystals glowing a pale blue.  He stepped onto the two chakrams and levitated up towards the roof of the dormitories.  Schatten clambered out after him after a moment’s hesitation, and the stress in the air lessened somewhat.

The moment they cleared the top of the window, Ryler scrambled out from under the bed and shut the widow with a satisfying snap.  “Thanks guys,” he said with relief, “I really don’t know why Tiberius is so darn fixated on those suits!”

“No worries man,” Lewis said.  “I’m sure Tiberius will forget it all soon.”

Nick, who was writing on his notepad once more, finished writing and handed it to Ryler.  Ryler accepted it and quickly read the note.  “Good thinking Nick!  I really should lay low for a while.  It’ll give Schatten and Tiberius even more time to cool off.  I’ll go hide with Lunare for the day.  That’ll be good for a start.

Ryler stepped over the destroyed door and had entered the corridor when Daniel suddenly had a thought.  “Wait, Ryler, is Dakota still working with Lunare?”

Ryler paused and scratched his pink hair in thought.  “I think so,” he answered slowly.  “If he’s still Lunare’s assistant, it would make sense that he’s still there at this hour.”

“I’m coming to then,” Daniel announced as he threw on his jacket and followed Ryler out into the corridor.  He didn’t think that Dakota would be able to give any further advice on dealing with his secret being out, but both team DDLN and LSTR had surprised him on countless other occasions.  Besides, ever since Lunare hired Dakota as his assistant, they barely saw Dakota outside of classes and meals.  Daniel could only hope that they wouldn’t be too busy.

* * *

 

“I don’t care how effective it would be at fighting Grimm, I am not going to help you put a twenty millimeter cannon on Scrapmetal!”

Lunare, who was standing behind the table holding up the parts to the massive weapon, pushed his glasses up by their bridge and folded his arms in determination.  “I fail to understand why you are so adamant about keeping this incredible find of mine from being mated with its one true pair, Scrapmetal.”

“Okay, your strange fetish with shipping inanimate objects together aside; you pulled me off assembling your Aural Disruptors to give my opinion on your new toy, and my opinion is that this is a terrible idea!” Dakota shot back.  He was grease stained and had ditched his battered old leather jacket for a grease stained apron covered in rough pockets that seemed to have been sewn on by Lunare in an extreme haste.  All pockets were full to bursting with scrap and tools that Lunare was too busy to put back, and Dakota had no idea where they belonged.

Lunare stared at his assistant coolly.  “And what exactly is your reasoning behind this opinion?”

“Well for starters that drum magazine is not meant to be taken off in combat,”

“I’ve already retooled the release mechanism and designed a more compact drum that has a ten percent increase in capacity with a fifteen percent weight reduction.”

“It’s way too heavy for anyone to turn on their own,”

“Electronic servos built into the mount will allow the cannon to be controlled by an old gaming controller I found in a scrapyard.  In the event of a power failure, secondary hydraulics allow manual firing to be an option.”

“And there is no way that thing is street legal,” Dakota finished.  “I mean, how did you even get a cannon in the first place?”

“I have full permission by the Vale DMV to register Scrapmetal as a homebuilt vehicle, along with any and all of its variants.  As to how I obtained a cannon, I took it as part of my payment for supplying Atlas’ military police force with the Aural Disruptors you are now building.  I assumed a cannon was a small price to pay for supplying them with a revolutionary method of suppressing individuals without permanent damage.”

This argument would have continued further had the garage door not been opened at that moment.  Lunare ducked under the table and pulled out Nieh Mehr, ready to defend himself from any Atlas soldiers wanting to arrest him for taking a cannon from them.  He lowered his gunstaff when he saw Ryler’s familiar pink poof of hair dart inside. 

“Hey Lunare!” Ryler called out.  “I hope your day is going better than mine.”

“Well it would be going somewhat better if I could get assistance from the assistant I hired specifically for this reason,” Lunare said as he eyed Dakota, who had returned to his workbench where he was assembling the latest batch of Aural Disruptors.  “What brings you to the garage?”

“Oh nothing much,” Ryler answered as he ducked under Scrapmetal to reach the table with the cannon on it.  “I need a place to lay low until Schatten and Tiberius don’t want to kill me anymore, and Daniel needs help figuring out what to do since his father told the world he had no Aura.”

A sharp crack could be heard as Dakota snapped the casing of the disruptor he was assembling.  He whirled around to look at Ryler with shock written all over his face.  “He didn’t!”

Lunare already had his phone out and was looking it up on the internet.  “Unfortunately it appears that he did,” he confirmed.  “Daniel’s father did indeed let the proverbial cat out of the bag.”

Dakota looked back at Ryler.  “Ryler, where is Daniel right now?”

“Here,” Daniel called out, ducking under the garage door.  Dakota instantly gave Daniel a once over, searching for any sign of stress.  He was definitely tense, but he seemed calmer than what Dakota expected.  Which was a good sign considering ‘the beast’, the name they had come to use for the state Daniel went into during his fight with Glas, seemed to come from moments of pain and fear.

“You all right Daniel?” Dakota asked his friend.  “I mean, your dad just, damn.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Daniel answered.

“Any voices?”

“A bit,” Daniel admitted, “But Nick calmed me down.”

“Good thing he was there then,” Dakota said.  “Daniel, what the hell are you going to do?”

“That was kind of why I came here,” Daniel admitted.  “Nick had no idea, so thought you might have an idea.”

Dakota scratched a bit of stubble on his chin.  “Well, the best case scenario is people don’t pay attention-”

“Already trending on Basebook,” Lunare confirmed.  “Anyone named Daniel Grigio is being bombarded with messages.”

Caught off guard, Dakota thought once more.  “Well then, hopefully everyone thinks it’s a hoax.”

“Several polls have already been created,” Lunare replied once more.  “Eighty percent of voters seem to agree that your father is telling the truth.”

Dakota turned to Lunare.  “Okay, is today just ‘let’s prove Dakota is wrong day’ for you?” he asked irritably.

“Lunare, I’m scared to ask this, but what are they saying about me?” Daniel asked carefully.  This was the moment of truth.  It alone would decide if Daniel’s fears were correct about what would happen when people learned of him.

Lunare pushed his glasses up and scrolled through the comments, absorbing what they were saying.  After what seemed like an eternity, he finally looked up from his scroll.  “There are those who are calling for you to be locked away to be studied, or even shot like the filthy Grimm you are.  They hope that you, oh my.  That is an interesting usage of a fence post and a coil of barbed wire.”

Curious, Ryler looked over Lunare’s shoulder.  Upon reading the comment, his eyes widened and he covered his mouth as he raced over to a trash can.  Retching noises echoed from its depths as he emptied his stomach.

“So, that’s what the world thinks I am then,” Daniel said.  His spirits lowered, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t expected.

“Not entirely,” Lunare corrected.  “While the majority do believe that you should be locked up or executed for the safety of the people, a close forty-eight percent believe that you should be sympathized with.  Studied perhaps, but not locked up.”

“Well, at least there’s that,” Dakota commented.  “I could live with those odds.”

“There also appears to be a small but growing population that believe you should not be training to become a Huntsman; be it because of you lack an Aura, or because you are ‘learning our ways to report back to your Grimm brothers’.  I can see Atlasdidmtnglen97 has been doing their homework,” Lunare added with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh come on!” Daniel said exasperatedly.  “I am not a weakling!  I took on Professor Glas and won!”

Dakota opened his mouth to comment, but was interrupted by the furious beeping of Lunare’s computer.  Lunare set down the final piece of the cannon and strode over to the monitor to see what was going on.  “There’s a police chase,” he said.  “Two individuals, aura trained, Huntsman level abilities.  This could prove beneficial to us both, Daniel.”

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked as Lunare slotted the final piece of the cannon into place and hefted it onto his shoulder.  Stumbling slightly, he moved around to the right side of Scrapmetal and lowered it onto several chain loops

“This is a perfect chance test for the new variant of Scrapmetal I have dreamed up.” Lunare answered as he hoisted the chains up.  “In your case, you will be able to prove you are capable of combat and that you pose no threat to humans or faunus alike.”  Lunare then clambered onto Scrapmetal’s roof and began attaching it to the mount.

“You’re seriously going after those two?” Dakota asked in astonishment.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Lunare asked as he fiddled with the controller and caused the cannon to swivel on its mount.

“I wasn’t complaining,” Dakota said as he threw the apron onto his workbench and donned his leather jacket.  “Hell, it’s about time something happened.  Glynda hasn’t had us fight in over a week!”  He strode over to Scrapmetal and after a moment of hesitation, threw open the door and claimed the shotgun seat.  Daniel followed suit and strapped into one of the back seats.  Ryler however remained hunched over the trash can.  Curious, Daniel poked his head out the window.

“Hey Ryler, you okay?”

“My innocence!” Ryler sobbed into the trash can.  “Ruined! Destroyed!  Smashed beyond repair!  I can never look at a fence again!”

“It would appear that Ryler will be unable to join us this time,” Lunare said as he dropped down from Scrapmetal’s roof and slid into the driver’s seat.  He turned the ignition and Scrapmetal’s V8 engine roared to life; louder than before it seemed.

“THUNDERBEE variant Mark-One!” Lunare shouted, “Designed for intimidating the opposition through high volumes of sound!”

He floored the accelerator, and Scrapmetal blasted out of the garage.  Instead of climbing the houses like he normally did, Lunare instead swerved right and followed the cracked and pitted street towards the freeway.  Despite the incredible din Scrapmetal’s engine was making, Daniel could already hear police sirens.

A lot of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Ezmerelda ‘Ez’ Fumee and Syrius ‘Cy’ Steele were in a spot of trouble.

Of course, the trouble was of their own doing.  They’d just attempted to kill the chief of police for his access codes into Vale’s bank, and were now attempting to escape the police in one of their own cars.  Ez, a short blond in a gray combat jacket and a black jumpsuit with red highlights, was driving.  Cy, a brown haired teenager in a dark gray hoodie and black tinted goggles, was currently shooting out of the window.

So far their plan had gone somewhat poorly.  The Chief of Police was wearing a bullet-proof vest, the access codes were in a locked drawer in his desk, and by the time Ez had smashed the lock open and taken the codes, police were kicking down the door.  They’d escaped through the Chief’s window and took a squad car from the parking lot below, but the police had only been moments behind them.  Now they were on the freeway dodging cars and trying to lose the police, but it was proving to be more difficult than they had imagined.  It seemed the police were intent on chasing them until they ran out of gas and were forced to stop.

Ez ducked and winced as a bullet crashed through the back window and embedded itself in the bulletproof glass separating the back seat and the front seat.  Evidently they weren’t planning on waiting until the two teenagers ran out of gas.

The bullet was still sizzling in the glass and slowly melting a hole, so she pulled out one of her batons and rammed it into the glass on her side.  The force was enough to dislodge the fire dust bullet, and it fell onto the floorboards where it continued to melt its way through the car.

“Cy!” she shouted out in irritation.  “A little covering fire would be nice!”

“Sorry Ez, Deus was out,” Cy replied in a gravelly voice as he stuck his head back out the window and fired a prolonged burst from his SMG.  He ducked his head back in as bullets raked the air where his head was a moment before.

“Ugh, this is stupid!” Ez growled.  “If you had used your semblance to get us into this thing, we would have lost them by now!”

“Please, you know I don’t use that unless it’s necessary,” Cy replied before firing another burst into the horde of police chasing them.  The bullets struck a tire, and the car swerved out of control into another police car.  The two officers struggled to regain control and avoid traffic as they fell out of formation.  Cy pulled back in and looked at Ez.  “Your point of view is far too negative.  From what I see, we have this in the bag.”

Ez checked her side mirror just in time for a bullet to rip it from the car.  She winced as shards of mirror and glass struck the window, leaving deep grooves in the glass.  “From my point of view, we didn’t make it to the bank, and we’re about to be shot off the road!  How much longer until we reach your Machina?”

Cy tapped the side of his goggles and furrowed his brow as he looked at something in his goggles.  “You’ve got another mile or so before they’re in range.  Going at your current speed, I’d say, thirty seconds.”

“As soon as we’re in range, I want you to light those cops up.  I know we’re supposed to minimize deaths this mission, but I don’t see any other choice.”

Cy peered out the windshield and seemed to like what he saw.  “Funny, because I see another option.  Get on that big semi’s left side, near the front.  I’ll do the rest.”

Confused as to what Cy was getting at, Ez nonetheless floored the accelerator and shot forward.  She pulled up to the cab of the semi and held her position.  The driver of the semi looked at them, briefly, then did a double take as he saw Cy clutching his SMG and tapping the side of his goggles.  Ez was about to ask what Cy was planning, when they finally got into range of Machina.

Turrets situated on the rooftops of buildings suddenly opened up and began blasting into the semi-trailer.  Most were directed at the engine block, but several began chewing up the area surrounding the front tires.  It didn’t take long for the engine to begin spewing thick black smoke, and even less time for the tires to pop.  The sudden loss of power on the right side caused the semi to begin jackknifing down the freeway.  The driver tried to compensate, but it was too late.  The trailer flipped, and the semi skidded to a stop, blocking the police cars from following.  A moment later, the engine caught fire as well.

Seeing that they were clear, Cy offered Ez a rare flash of a simile.  “What did I tell you, Ezmerelda?  In the bag.”

“It almost wasn’t,” Ez said, ignoring the comment.  “We nearly got out of Machina’s range.  What would you have done if you had missed?”

Cy was about to reply that he never missed, when he was interrupted by a loud roar.  Curious, he looked out his window to see a beast of a machine with spindly legs leap from the slope above the freeway and slam into the asphalt, leaving deep gouges in the rock-like surface.  Without missing a beat, it roared into action and charged forwards, rapidly eating up the ground between them.

“Dust Grimm and Seasons, what is that?” Ez shouted.

“Unclear,” Cy said coldly as he loaded a magazine of fire Dust rounds into Deus and racked the charging handle.  “Whatever it is, it looks unfriendly.”  He poked his head out of the window once more and began firing at the pursuer.  With no wheels to fire at, he concentrated his fire at the engine block to subdue the beast.  Expecting it to quickly go up in flames, he was surprised to see the rounds bounce off the front like they were spitballs.  To make matters worse, a strange contraption swiveled on a mount and pointed directly at them.  Cy realized what was being pointed at them the instant before the shells started whizzing past the stolen car.

“Get off the freeway!” Cy ordered as he pulled his head back in.

Ez turned to him in shock.  “Get off the free- do you want to get us caught?”

“Ez, whoever built that thing attached a cannon to the roof.  An _Atlas_ cannon.  The only reason you and I are still alive is because they’re shooting warning shots.  The moment they decide not to, we’re dead.  Our only option is to go into downtown and either loose them in the turns, or get within range of Machina again.”

Ez frowned for a moment as she considered Cy’s argument.  Then her eyes lit up in fear as she realized something Cy had said.  “Cy, you said that’s an Atlas cannon.  It- it couldn’t be _them_ could it?”

“Unclear, but it’s all the more reason to lose this thing before its drivers lose their patience.  Take the next exit, and drive south until we reach the Machina.  I’ll use them to distract our assailants, you work on losing them.  Then we ditch the car and split. We’ll meet at the warehouse tonight.”

Motivated now, Ez glanced at the oncoming traffic, and began to move over to the right.  As she did so however, the pursuing vehicle matched their moves and fired a burst at them to dissuade any further movements.  “Cy, I don’t know if I can make it.  Whoever is driving that thing, they seem to be anticipating my every move!”

* * *

 

“Eyes on the road, eyes on the road, eyes on the road!!” Dakota yelled at Lunare.

Lunare, who was looking at a readout on one of the displays welded onto the dashboard, looked up in time to nudge the steering wheel and sidestep a rapidly approaching van.  “The targeting reticule is out of sync with the cannon.  I must fix the aberration if I am to hit our prey and disable their vehicle.”

“There’s going to be aberrations in a lot more things if we crash!” Dakota shouted back.  If Lunare noticed the comment, he didn’t give any indication.  He instead looked up briefly and fired a burst at the captured police car.  The shells completely missed their intended target, instead hitting the ground directly to its right.  Chunks of asphalt spewed from the deep gouges and whizzed past Scrapmetal’s frame.

“Interesting,” Lunare mused as he leaned back down to inspect the display, “The cannon seems to be firing approximately three meters to the sides of where the targeting indicator is pointing.  Dakota, would you mind taking the wheel for a moment?”  Not waiting for Dakota’s answer, Lunare ducked back down to the display where he pulled a miniature keyboard from a slot beneath it and began typing.  Dakota reached for the abandoned wheel, hesitated for a moment, then firmly grasped the wheel.  As he did so, the police car swerved over several lanes and began climbing the exit ramp back into the city.

“They’re headed back into the city,” Dakota reported to Lunare as he tentatively nudged Scrapmetal into the exit ramp as well.

“An interesting tactic,” Lunare mused as he typed into the keyboard.  “Reentering Vale’s downtown would lead to choke points police could use against them.  I fail to see what advantage they would gain in this-” Lunare pushed his glasses up by the bridge and sat up abruptly, throwing Dakota off of the wheel.  “They want to use the very city to elude escape!  The tight turns and congested streets would provide opportunities for them to slip away!  These two are craftier than I expected.”

“So what’s the plan?” Daniel asked from the back.  He had remained quiet for most of the ride, letting Dakota voice their shared opinions.

Lunare shifted into the next gear, and the engine’s noise increased even further.  “They evidently do not understand the full capabilities of Scrapmetal.  Any other vehicle might have difficulties, but not Scrapmetal.  Following them should be a relatively easy task.”

The instant it left the exit ramp, the police car made an immediate U-turn and dove into the depths of the city.  Not wanting to drive all the way to the end of the ramp, Lunare yanked the wheel to the right and climbed the steep slope to the road.  They cleared the slope and were onto the road in time to see the police car make another turn and disappear from sight.  Lunare made the turn as well, just as the police car made another turn.  This continued for several blocks, each time the police car gained slightly more ground.

“We’re losing them Lunare!” Dakota warned after they barely caught a glimpse of the police car’s rear bumper before it disappeared within the mob of vehicles.

“Not true,” Lunare corrected.  “While we may lose sight of them for a moment, I require the space to transfer from one directional axis to another.”

Once upon a time, Dakota would have asked what Lunare was talking about.  By now however, he knew that when Lunare began using technical terms while driving Scrapmetal, it was for the best to tighten your seatbelt, and hold on for dear life.  This school of thought was supported when Lunare drove onto the sidewalk, sidestepped several pedestrians, and climbed up onto the side of a building.  Undisturbed by the sudden shift in orientation, Lunare shifted into highest gear and flew across the building’s wall.  Like Lunare had predicted, the police car was nowhere to be seen when they made a turn.  It was however visual once Lunare made another turn at maximum speed, and caught them trying to make their way through a traffic jam.  Without having to deal with any traffic, Lunare quickly caught up to them.  He peered out his left window as the stolen police car finally made its way out of the traffic snarl and into a straight shot of trafficless road.

“As a great villain once said, I have you now,” Lunare said.  He yanked a lever, and Scrapmetal shoved itself off of the building.  It plummeted ten stories down, reorienting itself right before the landing.

* * *

 

Ez breathed a sigh of relief as they finally broke free of the traffic snarl and were able to speed away from the horrible congestion.  Whoever designed that intersection needed to go back to engineering school, she thought as she maneuvered around a truck for a local Dust shop.  She gave the rear view mirror a quick glance to confirm that there was no sign of the mysterious vehicle.  It seemed they had lost their pursuers.

So why did she still hear the noise of its massive engine?

“It’s probably still stuck in the traffic,” Cy answered when she voiced her concerns to her partner. “There was nowhere for it to put those legs.  I believe we lost them.  Shame; I was hoping to test Machina against-”

Whatever Cy said was drowned out by an almighty crash as the beastly machine landed right behind them.  The force of the landing was so great, their back wheels left the ground and Ez had to fight for control as the police car swerved dangerously towards the railing.  Cy swore loudly and grasped the door as he was thrown around his seat.  In order to get better mobility, he had forsaken the use of a seat belt and was paying for it.

“Keep driving!” Cy ordered Ez.  “Straight shot, no deviations.  We’re almost to the Machina!”

Ez doubted Cy had ever said a more relieving phrase since she had met him.  Hunching down behind the steering wheel, she pulled into the middle lane and accelerated past the 100 mile-per-hour mark. 

“We’re going too fast for a sustained burst,” Cy warned her. “Fortunately, I don’t think we need a sustained burst to take out a leg.”

Ez was about to ask how he intended on hitting such a rapidly moving target, when the turrets opened up once more, and the pursuing vehicle was lit up by bullets pinging off of the legs.  The driver attempted to maneuver away from the bullets, but the damage was done.  The left front leg snapped off at the lower joint, and the vehicle crashed to the ground, skidding and throwing up sparks.

Ez whooped in laughter as they sped away from the wrecked vehicle.  “You did it Cy,” she shouted, “We’re finally fr-”

The back of the police car made a loud banging noise, and skittered to the side for a moment before it regained control on its own.  That wasn’t the problem though.  The problem was the noticeable pull of deceleration.  Confused, Ez stomped on the gas to get more speed, but all the engine did was rev up to extremely high RPMs.

Cy placed his hand on the dashboard and swore.  “They got a shot off,” he reported.  “Onboard computer says the whole back is ruined.  Tire pressure, brake lights, I think they even severed the driveshaft!”

Ez let out a curse as well.  Without the police car, their pursuers would be able to catch up to them on foot.  They couldn’t risk being caught, not after the heist they just pulled.  Searching for a solution, she remembered that there was an alleyway up ahead.  Sighting the opening, she cut through several lanes of traffic, jumped the median, and barreled towards the small space.  “Get ready to run,” she told Cy.  “Right before it hits, I’m going to smoke and get out of here.  Get out when you can, and meet back at-”

“Yeah, I got it.” Cy interrupted as he braced himself against the floorboard.  “Just make certain you take your clothes with you this time.”

“Bet you’d like it if I didn’t,” Ez muttered as the opening to the alleyway began to fill the windshield.  She summoned up her Aura, activated her Semblance, and was gone.  Transformed into a dark wispy cloud of smoke.  A second later, the police car collided with the corner of the alleyway.  The front was instantly crushed into a V, and Cy was thrown through the windshield and into the alleyway wall.  He was expecting it however, and any damage he would have taken was stopped by his Aura.

Thick black smoke was billowing up from the engine compartment and into the front seat when Ez made her move.  Flowing out the shattered windshield, she got a safe distance from the crashed police car before she returned to human form.  Thankfully, her clothes had come with her.

A few yards away, Cy groaned as he rolled onto his knees.  Ez wished they were further apart before they made their escape, but the alleyway was the only place where they couldn’t be viewed from the street.  They shared a brief glance from each other, then turned to move in opposite directions when a voice called down from the rooftop.

“If you two were trying to go for the undercover cop look, it’s not working.”

Ez looked up quickly to see a wolf tailed Faunus staring down at her.  He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out two large knuckledusters, which he slid on.

“How would you know what an undercover cop looks like?” Ez bluffed.  “Isn’t an undercover cop that looks like an undercover cop kind of counterproductive?”

“Very well then, why are undercover police officers attacking our fellow Huntsmen-in-training?” another voice called from the opposite rooftop.  Ez looked over and saw another teen standing on the rooftop.  His white suit was painfully bright against the dark brick of the wall beneath, forcing Ez to shield her eyes in pain.

“What are you talking about?” Ez asked as she slowly reached down to grasp the two batons clipped to her belt.  Even if she hadn’t lived on the streets for most of her life, she would have been able to tell this confrontation was going south really quickly.  If she could just distract the two for a bit longer, she could make her escape and,

“Well I think it’s safe to assume the turrets were yours,” Tiberius replied.  “They did after all damage Lunare’s monstrosity of an automobile without touching yours.  And while I often question my leader’s sanity at times, I trust he would not fire on a police vehicle without ample reason to do so.  Now, are you going to surrender, or are Schatten and I going to be forced into-”

It was at this moment that Cy attacked.  He leapt up from a seemingly dazed position and began firing up at the Schatten.  Cy was an excellent shot, and the bullets would have shredded into Schatten’s Aura, had he still been there.  The instant Cy stood up, Schatten had activated his jump jets and blasted up into the air.  At the peak of his flight, he turned around and activated the jets once more.  Ez grabbed her batons and swung them up just in time to intercept Schatten’s claws.  She grunted under the force he exerted and fell to one knee, but managed to keep Schatten at bay.  Schatten landed and jumped back as Ez swung at him.  As the batons brushed against his clothing, one of them somehow caught on his leather jacket.  Unprepared for the sharp yank, Schatten was flung into the brick wall.  Confused and slightly dazed, he looked down to see a barb on the end of the baton was caught in his jacket.  To make matters worse, his right set of claws was embedded deep into the wall.  He tugged, but the claws were firmly embedded in the brick.  With his free set of claws, Schatten swatted down to cut his jacket free, but Ez blocked his strike with her second baton.  To make certain he didn’t try the move again, she kicked his legs out from under him.  Schatten fell and hung awkwardly as his hand was stuck in the knuckleduster claws, and the claws were still stuck in the wall.

As Schatten struggled back to his feet, Cy decided to cut their opponents strength by half.  He pointed Deus straight at the back of Schatten’s head, paused for a moment, then turned the select fire switch to single shot.  No need to waste ammo on someone who wouldn’t be able to react fast enough to protect using his Aura.  He made one final check that he was still on target, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet fired, but before it could exit the barrel, a chakram slammed into Deus and knocked it off target.  Instead of hitting dead center in the back of Schatten’s head, it went far right and buried itself in the wall next to Schatten’s trapped claws.  Chunks of brick flew everywhere, and Schatten’s claws were jostled just enough by the blow that he was able to rip them free.  Before Ez or Cy could do anything else, he activated his jump jets and tackled Ez into the police car.  The ensuing force flipped the car onto its roof and sent it skidding into the street.

Irritably, Cy flicked the select fire switch back to full auto and turned to engage Tiberius, only for the chakram to rip free of the wall it had landed in and smack Cy across the face.  It returned to its wielder, and Tiberius stepped onboard.

“So, you’re Huntsmen in training then,” Cy said as Tiberius slowly descended.  He fired a burst at the teen, but the second chakram flew in and intercepted the bullets.  The chakram spun off course for a moment, then returned to hovering around Tiberius’ head.  “Guess that means you aren’t those Atlas creeps E and I’ve had on our back for the last few weeks.  Probably a Beacon student then.  I tried that school for a bit.  Didn’t suit me too well, so I called it quits.  Is that medic still a teacher?”

“If you’re referring to Professor Arthur Glas, he is no longer a tearcher at Beacon,” Tiberius answered as he stepped off of the chakram.  “He kidnapped several students for medical experimentation and was fired as a result.”

“Shame.  I liked the guy.  Always made me-” Cy finished his statement with a burst of fire from Deus.  Tiberius was unprepared, and unable to block with his chakrams in time.  The bullets struck him in the chest, and he was knocked off his feet as his Aura was forced to take the damage.

Cy kept firing bursts at Tiberius until the magazine in Deus was empty.  He dropped the empty magazine from the SMG and reached into his hoodie to grab a fresh magazine, only to grab nothing.  During the events of the day, he had exhausted his supply of ammunition much more rapidly than he was anticipating.  Warily, he looked at Tiberius, who was getting back up from where he had fallen.  He adjusted his tie, and lifted his arms up.  His two chakrams slowly rose from his sides and hovered around his head.  A sly smile grew on Tiberius’ face as he watched his now defenseless opponent slide into a defensive stance.

“My turn,” he announced.

* * *

 

When they collided with the police car, Schatten pushed off from Ez and skidded to a stop right before the sidewalk turned into the road.  Ez was not as lucky.  The force from Schatten’s tackle was enough to dent the passenger door and start to roll.  Schatten watched as the car flipped from the force of the impact and Ez disappear from view.  Schatten uttered a curse underneath his breath as the police car crashed onto its roof and skidded to the other side of the street.  He sprinted over to the car and ran to the other side to see what her fate was.  Expecting to see her pinned underneath the roof or even with her brains bashed against the pavement, he was surprised to find no trace of her.  Convinced she couldn’t have disappeared into thin air, he inhaled deeply and let his Faunus heritage do its job.  She was definitely here, but he couldn’t find any sign of her.

“Looking for something wolfy?”

Schatten looked up in time to see a cloud of dark grey smoke bend and condense into Ez lying across the flipped car with a sly smile on her face. She jabbed a foot out and hit him hard in the face.  Stumbling backwards and clutching his nose, Schatten peered through his fingers as Ez slid off the flipped police car and raised her batons in a fighting stance.  Schatten shook his head to clear it, and punched at Ez with two quick jabs.  With two equally swift flicks, Ez swatted the claws to her sides and rapped Schatten on the head.  Before Schatten could recover once more, she depressed two buttons on her batons and flicked them to the side.  Spiky metallic whips sprung free of the batons and she flicked them around Schatten’s claws.  With him ensnared, she planted a boot firmly on his chest and pushed him to the ground.  Dazed, Schatten growled at Ez and attempted to free his claws from the whips.

“That’s quite the bark you have there wolfy,” Ez said to her defeated opponent.  “Let’s see what we can do to lessen your bite.”

The barbs surrounding the claws began pulsing red and making a beeping noise.  Schatten had been Lunare’s friend long enough to know that beeping and pulsing things generally led to explosions, and doubled his efforts to free his hands from the whip.  Despite his struggles, the barbs only dug more painfully into his skin and the beeps only increased in speed. 

Just when they seemed to be about to explode, Ez was struck from the side by a flying pair of boots and was thrown away from Lunare.  The whips dug painfully into Schatten’s arms for a moment, then slacked off as the batons were pulled free from Ez’s hands.  Schatten frantically unwound them from his arms and tossed them to the side where the barbs detonated harmlessly.  Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked up to see Lunare descend slowly from the air as his coat billowed from the exhaust of his own more advanced jump jets.  He landed on the police car and folded Corabellum back into his coat, including the metal ribs jutting out from his sleeves that glowed an pale ghostly white.  With the armor stowed, he pulled Nieh Mehr from his coat and turned to face Ez, who was groaning and getting back to her feet.

“Careful Lune, she can turn into smoke,” Schatten warned.

“Really?” Lunare said excitedly.  He scurried over to Ez and began circling her, analyzing her from every angle.  “It’s a semblance of course, there is no other possible way, but it is possibly one of the most unique Semblances I’ve learned of, let alone seen.  The ability to change one’s form is not entirely unheard of, albeit extraordinarily rare, but the ability to change into a free-flowing sentient gas has never been seen before!”

“Oh my gods, shut up!” Ez shouted at Lunare.  “You’re giving me a worse headache than you’ve already given me!”

“But there are so many unanswered questions that I require answers to!  What does it feel like?  How do you maintain consciousness in a gaseous state?  And most importantly,”

Lunare pulled an Aural disruptor from his coat and jabbed it into Ez’ side.  She shuddered for a moment as her Aura was overloaded, then collapsed onto the pavement.  Lunare ejected the battery and replaced it before finishing his quote.  “How on Remnant were you capable of controlling your movements to hide within the oil smoke without any wind to guide your motions?”

“You know, you could have knocked her out _before_ I got hit on the head,” Schatten commented as he clambered to his feet.

“Tending to Scrapmetal’s wound delayed my response,” Lunare replied.  “Furthermore, I saw you and Tiberius on the roof and assumed that the two of you were capable of dealing with two opponents on your own without my supervision.”

At the mentioning of Tiberius’ name, Schatten’s eyes shot open and he jumped over the police car and raced back towards the alley.  Before he could reach the entrance however, Tiberius emerged from the alleyway dragging Cy’s limp form behind him.  Despite being shot multiple times and falling on his back in a dirty alleyway, there wasn’t a speck of dirt on his immaculate light pink suit.

“I don’t believe these miscreants will be troubling us any further,” Tiberius said as he tossed Cy’s limp form in the middle of their triangle.  “Especially not this one.  He was much more manageable once he exhausted his supply of bullets.”

The sound of running footsteps drew the three huntsmen-in-training’s attention to the sprinting forms of Daniel and Dakota.  Daniel came in with sword and pistol drawn, surveyed the carnage, and groaned.  “Seriously?  You three finished both of them?  Guys, I was kind of counting on this fight!”

“Daniel does indirectly bring up a point I have been pondering,” Lunare said.  “How was it you two came to be in the same area as we were?”

“We were looking for Ryler so we could kill him, we heard gunshots, and then Scrapmetal’s engine,” Schatten answered.  “We figured Ryler had to come back for food sooner or later, so we might as well help you now.  Since Scrapmetal broke again, it looks like we figured correctly.”

“An accurate assumption,” Lunare admitted as he looked over at Scrapmetal.  After recovering from the crash, Lunare had managed to stand Scrapmetal back up and get it walking on three legs.  He fished a key fob out from his jacket and pressed a button on it.  Scrapmetal revved up and began hobbling over towards the group.  “Once Scrapmetal arrives, I can retrieve my scroll and call the police to arrest these two.  Providing the police do not hold us for an excessive amount of time, we can be eating out in celebration within the hou-”

Lunare was interrupted by the whine of jet engines as an airship soared overhead.  It circled around once, then came in to land.  As it slowly descended, they were able to make out a black symbol painted on its side.  It was the same symbol still etched on Lunare’s cannon that he still had yet to buff out.

“What’s an Atlas ship doing all the way out here?”  Schatten yelled over the engine whine.  As he asked this, Lunare looked over at Scrapmetal and a flash of concern played on his face.

“My opponent did mention something about a group from Atlas he and his partner were dealing with!” Tiberius shouted back.  “It would appear these are the ones he spoke of!”

Before the airship had even settled, the side doors flew open and four people jumped out of the airship, three men and a female.  A man in a dark grey military coat and matching cap stepped forward, and with the way he carried himself was clearly their leader.  He rubbed a pair of silvery fingerless gloves as he surveyed the destruction and the two unconscious teens before staring straight at the group of huntsmen-in-training.  “Which of you is the leader?” he shouted over the revving down engines.  Daniel and Lunare both immediately stepped forward and after several awkward motions, Daniel conceded leadership to Lunare since he had most of his team there. 

“What can we do for you on this fine day Mr.?”  Lunare asked, clearly trying to draw attention away from Scrapmetal’s Atlesian cannon.

“Cobel.  Greeve Cobel.  You can start by laying down your weapons and surrendering these captives to us.  And then we can discuss why an Atlesian autocannon is mounted on that heap of scrap metal over there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, may I present to you the amazing and incredible cliffhanger! Who are these new and mysterious people? Will Daniel redeem himself in the eye of the public? Will I stop playing Breath of the Wild and actually write for once? The world may never know!  
> At least until next month when I release a new chapter. Then you'll know.  
> Until then, don't forget to drop kudos and comments. See you then!


	4. Chapter 4

"Perhaps the question that we should be asking, is why a team of huntsmen from Atlas are operating within Vale's borders," Tiberius offered. "And why they hold such an interest in two criminals we just captured. Perhaps by telling us what Atlesian laws they have broken."

"If you even are Atlas," Schatten offered. "How do we know you aren't just trying to bail your friends out?"

"We  _are_ Atlas, and their crimes classified information," the one calling himself Greeve answered. "You however should explain why stolen Atlas tech is on that heap of-"

"Now hold on a minute Greeve," said a man in an orange lab coat and cargo shorts as he hefted a large battle axe over his shoulder. "I wouldn't go so far as to call that a 'heap of scrap metal'. Sure it's missing a leg, but it's quite the piece of machinery."

"Yarrow, shut up," the girl shot back. She wore a red vest, skirt, and black calf high sandals. She was holding a tonfa in one hand, and gripping a sheathed knife on her belt in the other. "Greeve's right. Whoever these kids are, they shouldn't have a military grade cannon."

"I told you that thing was a bad idea," Dakota hissed to Lunare, who ignored it in favor of glowering at the one that had introduced himself as Greeve.

"And they shouldn't be using it in a residential area," Greeve added. "In the process of capturing these two, you caused severe damage to the freeway with your reckless firing. That cannon needs to be removed from your, 'vehicle' before someone gets hurt."

Lunare stepped forward as Nieh Mehr expanded to its full size. Instantly, the team from Atlas stiffened and save for the one called Yarrow, slid into attack positions. Undeterred by the show of aggression, Lunare began speaking. "While I will admit I should have dedicated more time to fine tuning and testing the targeting reticule, I do not appreciate the tone you've taken about Scrapmetal, or the way you refer to it in that tone. It would be beneficial to both parties if you ceased from referring to her as such."

Without replying, Greeve drew back and threw a punch, despite being well out of range. As the punch came to an end, his silver metallic gloves broke apart into individual wires. The wires wrapped around Nieh Mehr and ripped it from Lunare's grasp. They returned to their original form and deposited the gunstaff in Greeve's hand. He gripped the weapon firmly so Lunare wouldn't consider trying to take it back. "This is your last warning," he said firmly. "Drop your weapons or we will take you into custody for assaulting members of the Atlas military, and have that piece of scrap hauled off to the dump."

Daniel looked over at Lunare to see him shakily begin to push his glasses up by their edges and eye his captured weapon. Realizing what Lunare was thinking, and the similarities of a previous situation that wound them up in jail, Daniel desperately tried to diffuse the situation. "Hey uy, look, how about we wait until the police arrive and make sure you guys really are Atlas, and haven't just stolen an airship. Then we can-"

Too slow.

He was far too slow.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw it happen in slow motion. Lunare's hand fell from his glasses to his side. He slid into a crouch and activated something on Corabellum. He was launched forward into Greeve as he activated the razor sharp ribs on his arms. He pinned Greeve's arms between his own and slammed them both into the airship. Before anyone else could react, Lunare launched the two of them high up into the air, rapidly shrinking to a speck in the sky.

Daniel stared openmouthed at the deep grooves in the airship, then slowly turned his head back to the remaining members of the Atlas team. Their faces were a mixture of shock and outrage. In the case of the female member, there was a hint of horror and fear mixed in as well.

"I am so, so sorry," Daniel said, trying to find the words for an apology. "I have no idea what's come over-"

Before he could figure out what to say, a dark purple vortex swirled into existence on the ground next to the Atlas team. Greeve flew out of the vortex headfirst and landed on the pavement. A second later, the vortex disappeared into the concrete. Greeve dusted off his gray military jacket and gave the Huntsmen in training a hard look. "Team GREY, engage," he said with a hard edge. He flicked his arms up and the wires from his gloves shot out once more. They attached themselves to a diving Lunare and threw him into the ground next to Scrapmetal. The force of the collision rattled the asphalt in a miniature earthquake.

Schatten roared in anger and launched himself at Greeve, claws extended to slice Greeve to ribbons. The fourth member of team GREY, who had remained silent for the entire time, leapt in to defend his leader. He grabbed Schatten's wrists and performed a midair somersault. The two sailed through the air for an unnatural distance before Schatten managed to free himself and land safely on the ground.

Schatten crouched down and bared his teeth, tail low and bristling with anger. To his surprise, his opponent pulled out two revolvers and mimicked the movement. He snarled like a large cat, and Schatten was suddenly aware that he himself had a long white tail. As it flicked back and forth, the two circled warily, eyeing their opponent carefully. The panther Faunus abruptly made the first strike, leaping towards Schatten, baring his teeth and winding up to strike.

Daniel, Dakota, and Tiberius were meanwhile trying to defend themselves against the combined attacks from Greeve, and the girl with the knife and tonfa. Dakota was fighting the girl, while Daniel tried to help Tiberius get his chakrams untangled from Greeve's wires. Greeve had both chakrams trapped in one hand of wires, and was using the other hand to fight off Daniel. Tiberius had both Chakrams firmly grasped in his hand, and was desperately trying to pull them free.

"Unhand my weapons, and fight me!" Tiberius yelled at Greeve. "I demand that you-"

Greeve flicked his right hand, and the wires yanked Tiberius through the air and through the window of a liquor store. Within the depths of the store, the sound of smashing glass continued as Tiberius landed on one of the shelves.

With Tiberius incapacitated, Greeve reformed the wires on his right hand into a glove, and caught Daniel's sword as it descended towards his shoulder. As Daniel wrenched at his saber, trying to get it out of his opponent's grasp, Greeve briefly looked around to see how the battle was going. Ebon, the panther Faunus, had just whipped Schatten across the face with his revolver, sending him skidding down the street. Schatten rolled to his feet and jumped at Ebon, using the jump jets strapped to his waist. He slammed into Ebon, and the two sailed backwards. Ebon twisted in midair and made sure Schatten hit the ground first. They landed, and Schatten roared in pain at the unexpected weight. It was like a truck had landed on his chest.

Rojoe, team GREY's only female member, was having difficulty fighting Dakota. Every move she made with her tonfa, he was able to counter with his pipe. He wrapped his chain around her tonfa, pulling it aside, and hit her with an uppercut from his pipe. Her head snapped up and she stumbled backwards. Dakota yanked his chain free and whipped it around for another strike. Instead of hitting the tonfa or the girl behind it, the chain instead skated off a sheet of ice. Dakota grinned at this; ice wasn't anything that could stop his semblance. He was reaching into the pouch on his belt for a dust vial when his back was suddenly struck by what felt like half a dozen razor blades. Dakota roared in pain as Greeve's wires cut through the back of his jacket and into the flesh beneath. Distracted by the unexpected blow, he stumbled forwards, and Rojoe took the opportunity to hit him across the face with her tonfa. The weapon collided with a satisfying crack, and Dakota collapsed to the ground. He struggle to regain his footing, but Rojoe planted her knee against his back, and held her knife to his throat.

"No!" Daniel cried out, as he realized that his friends had all been incapacitated in a matter of seconds. He reached to his back and pulled his pistol out. He flipped the safety off, and pulled the trigger.

Greeve saw Daniel pull a pistol from his back, and reacted instantly. He let go of the sword and summoned his semblance to bear. A portal burst into existence behind him and he fell through. As soon as he was through, the portal closed, and the bullet smashed into the pavement. Before Daniel could react, another portal appeared behind him and deposited Greeve on the ground. Greeve grabbed Daniel by the back of the head and slammed him into the side of the overturned cop car. "Stay down," he ordered as he stripped Daniel of his weaponry, letting it fall to the ground, "Failure to do so will result in your neutralization. You have stolen Atlas weaponry, and assaulted four members of the military."

Daniel continued to struggle despite Greeve's order, but Greeve was able to hold him down. He spared another brief glance out at the rest of his team. Rojoe had her opponent's hands shackled behind his back, and Ebon was sitting calmly on the chest of his opponent while the Faunus struggled to push him off.

"Good work you two," he called out. "Rojoe, watch out for those snap attacks. He almost had you there."

Rojoe's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and she rubbed the back of her neck. "S-sorry Greeve," she apologized. "I didn't think he would put up such a fight." She looked to see if he had anything else to say, but he had already moved on to pulling Daniel's hands behind him and wrapping them with his wires.

"Tie them up, and load them in the airship," he ordered. "Yarrow, you're in charge of the street rat and hacker. Yarrow?"

Greeve looked around, but Yarrow was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, neither was that kid with the flying suit. Both of them had disappeared after the onset of the battle. Where the hell were they?

Before he could locate either of them, two disks shot out and severed the wires holding Daniel's hands together. Daniel pushed back and shoved Greeve back enough to scoop up his weapons and retreat to a safe distance. As Rojoe ducked underneath one of the chakrams, Dakota unclasped the top of his pouch and reached inside. Two melted cuffs and an elbow to the kidneys later, and Dakota had both his weapons scooped up and was moving over to where Daniel stood. The two teams finally were able to get a good look at what had just caused the distraction.

Tiberius stood in the doorway of the liquor store, blood red wine flowing off his light-ish pink suit. There were surprisingly no stains or tears to the fabric, but Tiberius still looked mad as hell.

"That, was a one hundred and twenty year old bottle of Château Merriweather," Tiberius seethed. "Known for its fine aged taste, it's one of the few decent things that's come from that name. A single bottle is worth at least twelve thousand Lien on the market. And you just wasted it in an attempt to further ruin my jacket. That, was a mistake."

* * *

"No, no, hear me out. The problem you keep coming across is not in the joint stabilizers, it's in the entire joint assembly," Yarrow explained as he leaned against Scrapmetal and waved a cigarette through the air. "What you've got on right now is barely strong enough to hold up Scrapmetal, much less tear a titanium door apart or take that many bullets from those turrets without sustaining some sort of damage. What you need is a thicker joint made of pure titanium covered with armored joint caps."

"Interesting," Lunare commented. He had a dirty notebook out, and was scribbling furiously with a minuscule nub of a pencil. "Tell me, how is it you came to this level of mechanical understanding?"

Yarrow shrugged. "Oh you know, when your big sister steals all your projects just as you nearly finish them, you move from projects and focuses quite a bit. By the time I settled on biomechanics, I was already pretty knowledgeable in many fields. I imagine that's something as a Nacht you'd understand." He laughed at the surprised look on Lunare's face. "Don't look so shocked kid, I doubt there's an inventor in Remnant who hasn't heard of the Nachts. Especially after what happened to-"

"Yarrow!"

Upon hearing his name, Yarrow calmly looked over at the commotion, and watched his leader desperately defending himself from Tiberius' flying chakrams. He sighed and dropped his cigarette, stubbing it out with his heel. "It looks like I'm being called in to help," he said with a tinge of regret. "Sorry Lunare, but it looks like I'm going to have to fight you, maybe even arrest you. If it's any consolation, I really think you're on to something with mounting a turret to Scrapmetal. Only thing wrong was stealing an Atlas cannon."

"I perfectly understand," Lunare said as he unfolded Nieh Mehr and slid into a defensive stance.

Yarrow slid into his own stance, and grasped the two blades of his battle axe. The handle split lengthwise, and Yarrow slid the two pieces down into the sleeves of his lab coat. They connected to something within his coat, and the two axe heads reoriented themselves so Yarrow could grip them from directly behind the blades.

Lunare nodded in appreciation. "Your weapons doubles as a powered exoskeleton. Very impressive. Had I not already built offensive armament into my own armor, I would have-" Lunare frowned and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Yarrow, I do not mean to alarm you, but the two fugitives we apprehended seem to have escaped."

In an instant, Yarrow's eyes went from calm to dead serious. He half turned his head to look at where they were lying, then turned back to Lunare; unsure if he was trying to trick him. "This had better not be a trick," he warned. "These people, they're really bad news." With that, he turned his head fully to check on the spot Ez and Cy lay on.

All he saw was cracked asphalt, and a bit of torn clothing.

Yarrow cursed and turned back to Lunare. "Lunare, I'm really sorry for this, but we've got to find those two before they escape." He flicked Nieh Mehr out of the way and slammed the bottom of an axe head into Lunare's gut. As Lunare collapsed to the ground, Yarrow leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Check your email later. I  _will_  send you something to help you build a replacement cannon."

Yarrow opened his mouth and was about to yell to Greeve that they needed to go after the two fugitives, when he saw Greeve use his Semblance and create a portal behind him to get away from the kid throwing the chakrams. As he took a step backwards, the kid with the red hair tackled Greeve, throwing off his balance. The two stumbled, and fell towards the portal. Yarrow broke out into a sprint to try and stop them from falling, but even with his powered exoskeleton, he was too slow. The two of them disappeared into the inky purple vortex without a trace. Rojoe cried out in horror, and Ebon looked on in shock. These kids may have stolen a cannon and attacked them, but they didn't deserve  _that_  fate.

It was therefor to their immense shock when the two reappeared above the kid with the chakrams, still struggling. The redhead, while sporting a black eye, was completely fine. They crashed into the chakram wielder, and the three of them sprawled across the pavement. Greeve threw the redhead off, and stared at him in shock. "How," he began, "How did,"

"Greeve!" Yarrow yelled, equally confused, but focused on the mission. "They got loose!"

Greeve shook his head and stared at the spot where Ez and Cy had until recently occupied, and was instantly back in the zone. "Team GREY, move out!" he ordered. Ebon and Rojoe reacted instantly, getting off Schatten and leaping to their feet respectively. Schatten and Dakota tried to stop them, but Yarrow was ready to intervene. Flipping an axe head down, he fired a bright yellow pellet from a small hole in the top. It bounced and rolled into the middle of the group fighting, and team GREY instinctively covered their eyes. Teams DDLN and LSTR saw them do so and moved to cover their eyes as well, but were too slow.

Light as bright as the sun exploded from the pellet as it exploded in a loud report. Smoke rushed into the battlefield, quickly obscuring the combatants. Though the smoke, Yarrow watched the blurred forms of his teammates quickly board the airship and start up the engines. As Yarrow sprinted towards the open hatch, the redhead stumbled out from the smoke, covering his eyes and blindly swinging his sword. Yarrow instinctively blocked one blow with an axe head, and slammed the other axe blade into his side, sure that the kid's Aura would protect him from such a light blow. He leapt onto the ramp as the airship lifted off, accepting a hand from Rojoe.

"I can't believe those damn kids screwed this up!" Greeve shouted over the whine of the engines. "We were so close! So freaking close!"

"Least we know they're in Vale!" Ebon shouted back. "We can lock down ports, issue warrants. They won't leave the kingdom!"

Yarrow returned his weapon to its axe state as he stared out of the open hatch at the scene below. As the smoke cleared, he thought he saw their opponents fighting each other. But that was silly, he reasoned. Why on earth would they want to fight each other?

* * *

Light. A blinding bright light that blocked out everything.

Noise. His ears were still ringing

Pain. Pain in the chest.

The Voices. Rushing over him. Flowing throughout his mind. Overwhelming him without attempting to let him give in.

 _They have hurt you_ , the voices roared.  _The humans have betrayed you. Kill them. Kill them all!_

Daniel tried to resist, but it was no use. The voices were simply too much. He let out a massive roar that quickly robbed him of his voice. Energy coursed through him, robbing the axe wound of its potency.

Dakota looked up at the roar, and blearily saw Daniel standing with blood dripping down his chest. "Ah hell," he muttered. "Daniel, try not to move. You've got a pretty big cut on your-" his voice trailed off as he noticed the hate on Daniel's face, and the red that had completely replaced his normal green-brown eyes. "Daniel?" he asked in a cautionary worried tone.

With another roar, Daniel charged Dakota, swinging his sword in an arc through the air. Dakota reacted instantly, blocking the blow and delivering a punch to the kidneys. A blow that would normally have Daniel on his knees felt like a mild tap to him. He aimed his pistol at Dakota's face and pulled the trigger. One, two, three times in rapid succession. Dakota's head snapped back and he was thrown to the ground. Groaning, he looked up to see Daniel pointing his pistol right at Dakota's chest. Dakota rolled out of the way as Daniel emptied his clip where he lay a second before, and leapt to his feet. He whipped his chain around and knocked the pistol from Daniel's hand, sending it skidding off under the police car.

Schatten took the momentary lapse in fighting to tackle Daniel to the ground. He wrestled with Daniel, trying to catch his sword and wrench it from his hand. "What the hell are you doing Daniel?" he demanded to know. Daniel simply responded by biting down on Schatten's arm. His Aura, weakened by Ebon landing on his chest failed under the massive pressure. Schatten roared in pain as Daniel bit through his leather jacket and into the flesh underneath, bright red blood flowing from the wound.

"Out of the way Schatten," Tiberius demanded as his Chakrams began orbiting his head and spinning rapidly. "I can't get a clear shot of him like this."

Growling in pain, Schatten sheathed his claws and punched Daniel in the jaw with the knuckleduster. It didn't hurt Daniel, but the force was enough to dislodge Daniel's teeth from Schatten's jacketed arm.

With Schatten free, Tiberius raised his arm to send his Chakrams into Daniel. Dakota saw his movement and held up his hand for him to wait. "Daniel, stop this," Dakota demanded. "You're better than this. Fight whatever's making you do this!"

Daniel's only reply was to growl menacingly and advance towards Dakota and Schatten. Tiberius didn't wait any longer. His two Chakrams stopped orbiting Tiberius and launched themselves at Daniel. Daniel saw this however, and blocked both of them with the flat of his sword. The Chakrams returned to Tiberius, and he sent them flying back towards Daniel. He deflected them again, and ducked under a punch Schatten threw at him. He balled his left fist up and socked Schatten in between the legs. The wolf Faunus whimpered and fell to his knees. As Daniel rose back up to his full height, Dakota leapt onto his back and wrapped his chain around Daniel's neck. Daniel gagged and growled, pulling at the chain angrily; but Dakota refused to let him go. The voices in Daniel's head were in an uproar, furious that this human was riding Daniel like that. They made Daniel buck forward, throwing Dakota over his head.

Dakota landed on his back, and Daniel was on him instantly, punching and kicking every inch of Schatten he could find. He pulled Dakota's pipe from his limp fingers, and raised it over Dakota's head, intent on bashing Dakota's brains onto the asphalt. Dakota squinted through swollen eyes at Daniel, trying to see any signs of his friend in the monster kneeling over him. All he could see was glowing red eyes and a vicious snarl.

Daniel swung the pipe down, but was suddenly lifted up off the ground. Lunare was flying through the air and had Daniel by the collar of his jacket. He pinned Daniel to the wall of the liquor store, and twisted Daniel's hand until he was forced to release the pipe. Daniel tried to bite Lunare, but Lunare simply maneuvered out of this bite radius. He then shoved Daniel to the side and flicked his wrists outwards. An Aural disruptor flicked into his hand and he leveled it at Daniel. "Forgive me Daniel," he said, "but this has to stop before someone gets hurt."

Daniel ignored Lunare's comment and charged his friend. Lunare sidestepped the attack and hit Daniel in the gut with the disruptor. He fell to his knees from the pain, but was quickly getting back to his feet when Lunare hit him again. And again. And again. It took five jolts from the disruptor to send Daniel to his knees. A swift knee to the forhead, and it was all over. Daniel fell into the sea of glass shards, groaning in pain.

The voices were scrambled now, nothing more than confused and unorganized demands. They quieted down into whispers before finally disappearing altogether. With their absence, Daniel was finally able to think straight once again. And as he did so, the pain returned in full force, along with the realization of what he just did. He scrambled to his feet, wincing as his chest wounds stung. Lunare raised his pistols again, but Daniel raised a hand, begging him to stop. He limped around Lunare and scrambled over to where Dakota was being helped up by Tiberius. "Dakota!" he cried out in a raspy voice. "Oh no, I-I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

Dakota groaned and reached into his pouch, pulling out a vial of ice Dust. He broke it open and held it on his face, moaning as it provided instant relief. "You, are one hell of a fighter," he said. "If I have to fight you again, it'll be too soon."

"That wasn't me," Daniel said. "It was, I don't know what it was."

A knuckleduster clad hand reached up and pulled another ice Dust vial from Dakota's pouch. "Whatever it was, it has a very strong punch," Schatten said in a voice several octaves higher than normal. He too broke the vial open and held the dust to his affected organ.

Satisfied that Daniel was back to normal, Tiberius grabbed Daniel by the shoulders and turned him to face him. He pulled Daniel's denim jacket off and ripped his shirt apart where Yarrow had struck him. "The denim appears to have absorbed the worst of the blow," Tiberius reported. "You'll still have to get stitches, but you should survive. There isn't any bruising, so internal bleeding should be kept at a minimum." He took Daniel's hand and placed it firmly on the cuts. "Hold this here until you can receive proper medical attention."

Daniel was about to ask how and where Tiberius learned about medicine, when he suddenly heard sirens approaching. He looked up to see where they were coming from, and to his surprise and horror, saw that a crowd had formed around the fighters. They were staring at the five teens with a mixture of confusion and horror. Daniel tried to raise a hand to inform them that they were all okay, and they all backed up in fear. With a sinking feeling, Daniel recognized their faces. It was the same one civilians had when they encountered Grimm. They had seen the fight. Worse yet, they recognized him, and knew who he was.

Daniel, Dakota, and Lunare's attempt at improving Daniel's image had failed horribly. And there was no escaping what was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys!  
> Sorry for not posting last month, I got caught up in finals and getting my old job back once I made it back from college. But now I'm here, and here's the chapter I've been waiting to post for a long time! Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you all to team GREY! Like team LSTR, they were graciously donated by one of my friends when I was in need of another team for To Be Human. I enjoyed writing the fight scene between the two groups, and I hope that you all enjoyed reading it as well.  
> Don't forget to drop a kudos or a comment if you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all next month!  
> -Wrench


	5. Chapter 5

Daniel knew the backlash against him was going to be bad. He knew that when his secret inevitably was revealed, that there would be people that were scared of him and hated what he was.

He just had no idea it could be this bad.

"We're live in Beacon's main courtyard, where hundreds of Vale's citizens have flocked in response to the recent reveal of a student residing within these very walls who is very different from you and I," Lisa Lavender reported as she stood in front of a horde of both humans and Faunus chanting slogans and waving signs. "Daniel Grigio, age seventeen, is does not generate an Aura, making him the first known human not to do so. A public that once held sympathy for the Huntsman in training after he and two other classmates were kidnapped by former Beacon professor Arthur Glas, has now turned against a boy they once saw as a victim of an insane man. As revealed by his father last week in an exclusive interview with VNN, Daniel is also a runaway, having stolen supplies from his own father and gone against his wishes to become a Huntsman. Public perception further worsened for Mr. Grigio when a video surfaced, showing him and several other Beacon students engaging other Huntsmen after a high speed chase. After the Atlas personnel retreated, Mr. Grigio seemed to suddenly lose control and attack his own teammates. It is unclear why he attacked them, but several Grimm experts believe it to range from residual Grimm traits to-"

Daniel shut off the Scroll and slid it in the pocket of his jacket hanging over a chair. He didn't need to listen to the news to know what was going on. All he needed to do was open the blinds to reveal the horde in the courtyard. Their angry shouts bounced off of the windowpanes as they waved their signs, the nicest of which told him to go back to his filthy Grimm kind.

"Well, you certainly got your name out there," Dakota said sarcastically as he entered the room. Daniel turned around to see him holding a stack of newspapers under his arm. He dropped them on the bed beside Daniel and crouched down next to his dresser, searching for a pair of earplugs. "I don't think the news has ever printed the same story this much. You've become really popular from this."

"That bad, huh?" Daniel said. He could sense the sarcasm dripping from Dakota's voice.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Dakota confirmed. "VNN and all the major news channels from the other kingdoms are all playing the same not biased yet totally favoring one side BS. Newspapers are picking it up as well. VNN, The Daily Mantle; hell, Eris from The Beacon Post got off of whatever she's usually on and wrote a coherent article."

Daniel twisted around and reached for the topmost newspaper from the stack, titled "Crazy Psycho Ginger Gives Backing to Derogatory Jokes". As he did so, he hissed in pain as the stitches holding his chest wound together were strained.

"You alright man?" Lewis called from the floor next to his bed. He was reorganizing his stuff on top of the refrigerator disguised as a mattress. Lunare's business was beginning to pick up, and he was needing to come into their room more and more to make deposits and withdrawals; forcing Lewis to reorganize his stuff so Lunare could more easily get to the Rage cans.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Daniel replied. "I keep forgetting about these stupid stitches."

Still not assured, Lewis stood up from his mess and walked over to where Daniel sat, motioning for him to take his shirt off. Daniel groaned, but complied with the unofficial team medic, removing his white t-shirt to display a line of stitches holding his chest together. Lewis' initial assessment hadn't taken into account for the flap of skin that held back most of the blood and concealed the massive damage. Yarrow's blow had hit him diagonally across the chest, creating a nine inch long cut. It had taken nearly a dozen stitches to close the deep wound, and he felt them every time he stretched his body.

Lewis kneeled down in front of Daniel's chest and lightly prodded the stitches. "You fine man," he commented. "Just don't pull one out, or else we'll have to put you in a cone."

Any other day, the team probably would've laughed out loud at Lewis' joke. Unfortunately this was not any other day. With the incessant roar of the crowd outside his window, they were all finding it hard to concentrate on their studies, or even get any homework done. To make matters worse, Daniel found very little sympathy among the other huntsmen in training. Whether it was because they themselves couldn't get any sleep, or that they sided with the crowd, Daniel and team DDLN by association were almost completely ostracized by their classmates. The once safe haven of Beacon had turned into another prison for Daniel, just like his old town. At least with his father, he always had the option of running away. Now he couldn't even walk outside without being recognized and instantly set upon.

Seeing that his joke didn't go over well with the sleep deprived group, Lewis moved back to his junk pile and continued to reorganize. With his chest still smarting slightly, Daniel pulled his shirt back over his head and picked the newspaper up. He breezed over the front page's content before angrily crumpling it and tossing it at the trashcan next to the door. It hit the wall next to the trashcan, and fell to the carpet below. Even more furious that he had missed, Daniel furiously stood up and marched over to the insulting newspaper, ignoring the whispering voices in his head as they rose above the noise of the crowd.. He grabbed the balled up paper and with a grunt, threw it point blank range at the trashcan. His anger caused him to miss, and he bent down to pick it up again.

"Chill out Daniel." Dakota said as he screwed his earbuds back in, "It's just a newspaper."

Daniel stood up and whipped around to glare at Dakota. "Or what Harding?" he said in almost a growl. "I'm angry, and I'm tired of holding it back. I'm angry this stupid mob outside our room. I'm tired of being treated like an outcast because of my condition. I'm angry at this whole stupid situation! And I'm pissed off because it's cold as hell in here and my stupid jacket is RUINED!" He yelled as he pointed at the jacket laying over his chair. Yarrow's cut had sliced through both sides of the front, leaving a large cut that no one had even bothered to repair.

"Daniel, you need to calm down now," Dakota said, his voice abruptly taking on a hard edge. "Your eyes are starting to change again."

Dakota's words cut through Daniel's anger, confusing him greatly. He turned to look at a mirror and saw through his reflection that his eyes had indeed changed from a hazel brown to a dark red with pitch black irises and pupils. They were the eyes of the Grimm.

Daniel's anger was replaced instantly by fear as he recognized the voices now. In his rampage, he had not noticed they were getting steadily louder and louder, telling him to kill everyone in the room as well as anyone else in the school. His right hand slid across his body towards where his sword normally sat, had it not been unhooked from his belt currently.

"No, not again! Please not again!" Daniel cried in terror as he clutched his head with his free hand, trying to will the voices away. As if to spite him, the voices only grew louder as his panic rose. And the louder they got, the greater his panic. The greater his panic, the louder they-

A firm hand grasped Daniel's shoulder from behind. Daniel instantly loosened up, becoming as limp as a wet noodle. All the anger, all the fear, all of the everything disappeared from his mind. All that remained was a burning wish to obey the every command of whoever was holding onto his shoulder. The grip was maintained for several moments as Daniel felt his heartbeat slowly decrease before finally coming to rest at its normal tempo. The hand released his shoulder, and Nick stepped out from behind him. He set a paper bag on a table and began pulling out Dust cartridges and vials of powdered Dust, separating them into several piles.

Dakota let loose a breath he didn't know he had been holding and slid out of the defensive stance he had automatically slid into. "Thanks for the save Nick," he said. "I didn't know that worked on Humans."

Nick shrugged as he collected several vials of Dust and slid them into his jacket for safe keeping until he could get down to Lunare's garage and create his special reduced shot. "Works on critters 'n Grimm without Aura," he rasped out. "Guess it works on Daniel."

"Yeah, guess it does," Daniel muttered bitterly, hiding his disappointment behind a stone exterior. He was grateful for Nick's save, but he would've rather not known if Nick's Semblance worked on him. Now he had another reminder of how he was different from everyone else.

Not noticing Daniel's misery, Nick moved over next to Dakota and peered out the window. He frowned and tried to say something, but it came out as a dry rasp. He tried again to no avail before pulling out a pad of paper and writing something down and handing it to Dakota.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either," Dakota said after briefly glancing at the note. "You'd think they had jobs to go do or something, instead of protest out there. And seriously, how the hell do they keep this up overnight? You'd think that they'd at least give us the night to-"

Dakota stopped mid-sentence as he and Nick ducked and dove for cover as a brick crashed through the window, throwing glass everywhere. It bounced off Dakota's bed and skidded to a halt on the carpet. The sound of the protesters roared the now open window, twice the intensity it was before.

"Oh for the love of, what was that for?" Dakota yelled over the clamor. He scooped up the brick and tossed it out the broken window. "I can't believe this!" he yelled to his teammates. "We've gotten no sleep for the past five nights! How are we supposed to get any now?"

There was a knock on the door, which Daniel ignored. It was probably someone coming by to congratulate him for finding a way to make the protesters even louder. When the knock was repeated, Daniel turned around to address it. "We get it, they're loud!" he shouted at the door. "You don't need to tell us that!"

To Daniel's mild surprise and extreme annoyance, there was a third knock on the door. Lewis stood up and reached for the knob.

"Forget it Lewis," Daniel called out. "I don't care who it is, because they're probably here to be grade A assholes and that's the last thing I-"

"Mr. Grigio," a voice interrupted that made Daniel's blood run ice cold. Slowly he turned to see the frowning bespectacled face of Glynda Goodwitch.

Daniel dry swallowed. "Good afternoon Professor Goodwitch," he whispered, "How can we help you?"

Professor Goodwitch frowned, then raised her riding crop to a stance not unlike the one Daniel himself took when he used his sword. Daniel cringed back, expecting the crop to strike him across the face or somewhere else. Instead, Professor Goodwitch waved it at the shattered window between Daniel and Dakota's beds. Pieces of glass rose from the floor and bed, piecing themselves back together in the windowsill. In seconds the window was whole again, and the din of the crowd was reduced to its original dull roar.

"Professor Ozpin would like to have a word with you Mr. Grigio," Professor Goodwitch said. "If you will follow me, I can show you to his office."

"That's okay, I know the way," Daniel remarked. He smoothed a few wrinkles on the front of his shirt and made a move to step past Professor Goodwitch when he was stopped by her riding crop abruptly moving to block his exit.

"My directions were to make sure you went directly to his office," Professor Goodwitch said, her words dripping with her distaste for her assignment. "And while I do not wish to play escort to a student, I will make certain you arrive at Professor Ozpin's office without any deviations."

Daniel looked over at his team, seeing the worry and concern in their eyes. He wasn't planning on making a run for it when Professor Goodwitch arrived, but now he was seriously considering jumping out the window and trying his luck with the crowds. The fact that she hinted that she was there to make sure he didn't make a break for it did not bode well.

"Now Mr. Grigio," Professor Goodwitch firmly insisted. She lightly tapped her riding crop against her leg, and Daniel jumped at the motion. "Yes Mam," he said as he followed her out to the hallway. As they began their trek down the long hallway, Daniel glanced back at the door to his team's dorm. A strange feeling crept over him, one extremely similar to the one he felt the day he was strapped down to a gurney by Professor Glas and wheeled out of the lab where Dakota and Velvet were.

He felt like this was one of the last times he'd be seeing his team.

* * *

"Your staff's ability to handle the situation is irrelevant Ozpin," one of the shadowy figures on the wall stated. "The fact of the matter is that allowing this Grimm child to attend Beacon has put your students in unacceptable danger."

"You mean, more danger than they already are?" Ozpin asked, taking a sip out of his mug.

"Precisely. The council has seen footage of the fight, and are very concerned as to whether your students would defend against this attack. It took four other students to subdue this creature, and not without sustaining serious injuries."

Ozpin opened his mouth to counter their claim, but was halted by an alert on his scroll. He opened it to reveal camera footage of Glynda Goodwitch and Daniel Grigio riding the elevator up to his office. Sighing, he closed the scroll and looked back up at the council.

"Councilmen, while I appreciate your concerns over Beacon's Aura-less student Daniel Grigio; I'm afraid I must cut this, impromptu meeting short. I have a time sensitive meeting scheduled that I simply can't put off."

If Ozpin could see the councilmen's faces, he had no doubt that they would be furious at the interruption. "Very well Ozpin," they finally conceded, "but this discussion is not over. The council is very displeased with your lack of communication in this matter." One by one, the video feeds of the council members fizzled out as each individual member ended the call.

Ozpin sighed and took a moment to compose his thoughts. Between reading reports by Huntsmen and Huntresses on Grimm movements, running a combat school, and dealing with complaints involving Daniel Grigio, a meeting with the council was the last thing he wanted to do today. Finally looking up, he called out "Enter," to the occupants of the elevator.

The elevator doors slid open with a quiet hiss, letting Daniel and Professor Goodwitch enter his office.

"Hello Daniel," Ozpin said. "How are your injuries healing up?"

Daniel shrugged, instantly regretting the action as his wounds twinged once more. "Slowly sir," he replied through gritted teeth. "This would be easier if I had an Aura."

"As are many things," Ozpin said. "I trust you remember the warning I gave the day you were accepted, about how this path would not be easy for you."

"I do," Daniel said shortly as he gingerly touched the still throbbing wound through his shirt.

"And despite this handicap, you have thrived here at Beacon," Ozpin offered. "In the months you have been at Beacon, you have become a leader of your own team, killed several Grimm on your own, and managed to defeat two separate members of Beacon's staff in combat."

Daniel fidgeted and looked down at his feet. He hadn't told anyone besides his own team and LSTR about the voices and their effect on him, although he was certain Glas had his suspicions. He'd initially planned to keep the voices in check so teams DDLN and LSTR took the secret to their grave, but with videos now circulating around the Internet of him blindly attacking his classmates, it probably was for the best that he told Professor Ozpin. He opened his mouth to begin confessing, but Professor Ozpin had begun talking once more.

"However, there are those that feel you are not yet meeting your full potential," Ozpin said. "And of those, one has expressed a desire to meet with you."

Professor Ozpin pressed a button underneath his desk, and a hologram blinked to life. In it stood a miniature figure wearing a white overcoat and black sweater. He had black hair that was graying at the temples, and a a peculiar metallic patch over his right eyebrow. He stood stiffly at attention, although he seemed to visibly relax after the hologram was activated.

"Hello Daniel," the figure stated with a hint of warmth creeping into an otherwise wise steely exterior. "I am General Ironwood of the Atlesian military. How would you like to have an Aura?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Ghost Church on Tumblr for letting me mention one of his characters and the Beacon Post, a recap of RWBY episodes with an, interesting twist. Go check him out, it's a great way to pass the hiatus and days in-between new episodes.  
> Hope you all liked this chapter, sorry about the cliffhanger there. Feel free to drop a kudos or even subscribe if you enjoyed what you saw and want to see more. See you next month!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the cliffhanger of the previous chapter, General Ironwood further proposition to Daniel, but adds some unexpected catches. What will Daniel end up choosing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word of the wise: don't take a nap when it's update day. You tend to subsequently forget, then go play RWBY Dungeons and Dragons that a friend created. Sorry about missing update day yesterday! Hopefully you all don't hunt me down and castrate me in front of the RoosterTeeth headquarters.

To say Daniel was shocked would be like saying Mountain Glen was perhaps a mistake.

He thought for sure he was dreaming. That he'd somehow managed to fall asleep, and the events of the afternoon were nothing but a strange dream. He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, tasting blood. He didn't abruptly wake up in his bed, so that meant this was real.

He couldn't believe it. Someone was offering to give him an Aura? He didn't even know that Aura could just be 'given' to someone, much less that a lowly freshman going to a different school would qualify.

"Um, come again sir- General sir- sir General- sir?" Daniel stumbled, unsure how to address the head of the largest military organization on the planet.

General Ironwood chuckled at Daniel's reaction. "Mr. Ironwood will do for now, son." He turned around and focused his attention on Professor Ozpin. "I didn't know you picked them this timid Oz," he said, "I certainly hope they're up to scratch for the Vytal tournament next year."

"Well, I imagine Mr. Grigio didn't expect a famous General to offer him such an opportunity today," Professor Ozpin replied, "I would be more surprised if he wasn't a bit taken aback."

"Sorry sir, I-" Daniel paused and took a deep breath, composing his thoughts. "I just didn't expect, well, this. I mean, how is this possible?"

"Until recently, it wasn't," General Ironwood admitted. "However, several months ago, a team of researchers funded by Atlas made several interesting breakthroughs in Aura studies. Using these breakthroughs, there is a procedure developed that we believe can give you an Aura."

Slowly, Daniel was realizing that this wasn't a joke, but instead was the real thing. He was actually being offered an Aura!

Daniel's face was evidently showing signs of astonishment, as General Ironwood smiled slightly after seeing his expression. "I assume by your expression that you are interested?"

"I, yes! Of course sir, Mr. Ironwood!" Daniel hastily replied, mustering up the best smile he could do in his sleep deprived state. "I just, wow! How, how did you come up with a procedure so quickly?"

General Ironwood cocked his head to the side, seeming to think over his words carefully. "Unfortunately I can't delve into the specifics just yet; the project and results are still top secret. What I can say is that the procedure we have in mind was derived from a project the researchers in question are now conducting. I personally discussed it with them, and they tell me there is a very good chance that the procedure will be successful."

Daniel took a deep breath to compose himself. "Mr. Ironwood, thank you so much for this opportunity. I graciously-"

"Daniel," a cautionary voice rang out. Surprised, Daniel turned to Professor Ozpin, whom had been so quiet that he had honestly forgotten was there. "This isn't a decision to be made lightly. I discussed the agreement with General Ironwood before calling you here, and there are some points you need to consider before agreeing outright."

This made Daniel pause. While the offer was initially good enough to agree to outright, Professor Ozpin's hesitation was enough to make him think twice. He turned back to the hologram of General Ironwood on Professor Ozpin's desk. "What points is he talking about sir?"

General Ironwood cast a glance over at Professor Ozpin, but answered Daniel's question. "Well to begin with, this is an untested procedure. We don't know how your body will react, and quite frankly, it could be fatal. There's also the issue of compensation."

Daniel frowned. "Compensation? If it's money Mr. Ironwood, I don't think I can repay-"

"Daniel, in return for funding your procedure, General Ironwood has asked for your transfer from Beacon to Atlas Academy," Professor Ozpin answered.

Daniel felt like he'd been sucker punched in the gut. He gasped for breath, trying to fill his lungs once more. "Leave Beacon sir? I can't do that! I'm team leader of team Dandelion!"

"Which is one reason why I am very hesitant to allow your transfer," Professor Ozpin admitted. "However,"

"However there are protocols Huntsmen Academies put in place should a team member no longer be able to attend," General Ironwood finished. "If you choose to go through with the procedure, your team will be taken care of."

Daniel clenched and unclenched his fingers as he nervously sweated, trying to weigh his options. On one hand, he wouldn't be so defenseless anymore. Every time he'd been in actual combat, he'd either had teammates who could actually use their aura, or he'd been knocked around until the voices took over and he ended up attacking both friend and foe. Having an Aura could mean an end to the voices, an end to being kicked down by his foes!

But on the other hand, getting an Aura meant loosing everything he'd gained at Beacon. He'd met friends that he'd give his life for, and they were willing to do so to rescue him! Something like that, he didn't know if he could, or should, give up.

But at the same time, being able to wield an Aura,

"Daniel, as much as I would like to see you at Atlas, I do agree with Professor Ozpin," General Ironwood said, interrupting Daniel's thoughts. "This is a very big decision, and I wouldn't want you to make a rash choice you might regret later."

Daniel let out a breath and relaxed slightly. If he didn't have to make his decision now, he could talk to his teammates. They'd probably tell him to stay, but it would still be good to hear their thoughts. He opened his mouth to voice his thoughts, but stopped when he saw General Ironwood furrowed brow. He seemed to be contemplating a thought.

"Oz, I don't suppose I could convince you to let me borrow Daniel this weekend?" General Ironwood asked, "I would be more than happy to arrange a tour of the campus, and give him an idea what Atlas is like."

Professor Ozpin took his time to answer General Ironwood's request. There were several times that Daniel thought his headmaster was about to say something, but changed his mind at the last moment. Finally he took a long sip from his coffee mug and looked at General Ironwood's hologram. "I don't see why not. If Daniel is agreeable, I will alert Daniel's professors, and order a ticket on the next flight to Atlas."

General Ironwood laughed. "No need Oz. My trip, my treat. I'll send an Atlesian craft to pick him up. What do you say, Daniel?"

* * *

Daniel walked back to his dorm, thoughts swirling through his head as he tried to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of his options. Distracted by these thoughts, it wasn't until he was inches away from the student that he realized they were about to collide. Daniel instantly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a collision. As he turned back around to apologize, he was abruptly faced by a much larger student towering over him.

"Hey, you're that kid without an Aura, aren't you?" the student asked. "Danny, right?"

"Uh, I prefer Daniel but yeah," Daniel corrected.

"Yeah, Daniel. Pretty weird name for a Huntsman, am I right? Then again," the student said as his voice dropped an octave, "You're a pretty weird kid, aren't you Daniel?"

Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by the student when he put a finger to his lips. "Listen Danny boy, me and some of the other students here have been talking. We're looking out for your safety, you know. Guy like you who doesn't have an Aura could get hurt as a Huntsman. Thats why we don't really feel Beacon is a good fit for you."

Daniel face contorted into a mask of confusion. "What, what do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Well you see Danny boy, you not having an Aura makes you a helluva lot like the Grimm, who don't have Aura either. And we're training to kill the Grimm. So," the teen leaned in close, and Daniel automatically backed up, "The longer you stay here, the more likely one of us is gonna mistake you for a Grimm, and have a little accident. Capishe?"

"Capishe," Daniel answered. He had no intention of following this guy's demands, but he was willing to say anything to get him out of his face.

"Great!" the student said, abruptly backing up. "Glad we had this conversation Danny boy. I'd hate to see a fellow student get hurt." He slapped Daniel on the back, and Daniel stumbled forward from the force of the blow, gasping in pain as he clutched his chest wound. The student began walking towards the elevator, calling out over his shoulder, "See you around, Daniel!"

Daniel stood still for a moment, then peeked over his shoulder to be certain that the student wasn't about to sneak up on him while he wasn't looking. Only when the elevator doors closed on the student did Daniel breathe a sigh of relief. That guy had seriously freaked him out. Daniel wasn't sure if he was being hostile, or just generally creepy. But surely he wouldn't actually try and hurt Daniel. Right?

Daniel suddenly found it very important to get back to his dorm as soon as possible, which he did so immediately.

* * *

"Yes Ma, I'm fine," Nick whispered into his scroll grateful that Professor Goodwitch had come back to repair their broken window. Otherwise he'd never be able to be heard with his whisper of a voice. "I told you, I've been busy at Beacon. Yes Ma, I've been eating. No Ma, I'm not sick." Nick listened to his scroll for a moment before sighing exasperatedly, which for him sounded like sandpaper on gravel. "Ma, I told you already; I sound different because someone stabbed a damn knife in my throat!"

on the other side of the room, Dakota and Lewis sat on Daniel's bed watching their teammate swing on his hammock while trying to speak to his mother. It was something to be marveled at; Nicholas Ochre was visibly flustered, and the conversation had been going on for less than a minute.

Dakota smiled slightly as Nick held his scroll away from his ear as his mother's voice raised several decibels, and he was actually able to pick out several phrases. She was yelling something about Nick getting into fights, how she'd tan his hide if he got expelled, and how he'd better've won or else he'd be a disgrace to the family name; losing to some city kid. As Nick tried to explain how he'd gone in to save a friend, and that technically the group won, Dakota leaned over to Lewis. "Poor Nick," he murmured. "Getting blindsided like that; no man deserves such a fate."

"Yeah," Lewis said, slowly shaking his head. "His mom is freaky man. We should rescue him or something."

"Yes well, I think we've done our fair share of rescuing this semester," Dakota said as he repositioned himself on his bed into a more comfortable position. "Let Daniel do the honors this time."

"I don't know man," Lewis said as he watched Nick enter a violent coughing fit, and his mother yell that he  _was_  sick and that he was hiding it from her. "Daniel's been gone a while. What if he doesn't come back? What if Professor Ozpin expels him, or Atlas picks him up to continue Glas' experiments? We could never see Daniel again!"

Dakota shook his head. "Doubt it. One, Daniel still has stuff in here. I know it's not a lot," he said, glancing over at Daniel's replacement backpack, and the clothing drawers he knew were virtually empty compared to some of the others, "but he'd still come back for it. Two, where the hell you get Atlas coming to experiment on him?"

Lewis opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the rattling of the doorknob. It turned, and Daniel strode into the room, casting a glance over his shoulder before closing the door behind him. Nick saw his chance and pressed the scroll to his ear once more. "I got to go Ma. Leader walked in. Yes Ma, I'll call more. Ye-yes I'll try cough drops. I love you Ma. Tell Thomas to go f- sorry Ma. Bye." Nick ended the call and let the scroll slip from his grip and clatter to the floor. He let out a long gravelly sigh punctuated by several coughs as he slid further down into his hammock, pulling his hat over his face.

Daniel glanced over at his teammate, frowning slightly in confusion. "Um, do I want to know what that was about? Or who Thomas is?"

Dakota waved his hand. "Nah, you had to be there. So what's up? Ozpin didn't kick you out or anything, right?"

"Or Atlas trying to experiment on you?" Lewis asked nervously.

Surprise flashed over Daniel's face, and he eyed Lewis, trying to read him. "How did you," he began, "nevermind. I'm fine. Totally fine. Fine as can be, really."

Dakota and Lewis looked at each other, mentally arguing who should be the one to ask. After several seconds of debate, Dakota rolled his eyes and turned to face Daniel. "So, what did Professor Ozpin want?"

"Not much really," Daniel admitted. "It was more for another Headmaster. General Ironwood from Atlas. Wanted to do a procedure that would give me an Aura if I left Beacon and went to Atlas instead."

The room was completely silent. Even the crowd outside seemed to have died down. Dakota and Lewis looked at Daniel, mouths open in pure shock. Nick threw his legs over to the other side of his hammock, and tried to say something, only to be unable to make any noise besides a dry wheeze. He shoved his hands into his pocket to pull out his pencil and notepad. He scribbled roughly onto a sheet of paper, tore it off, and strode over to hand it to Daniel.

**WHAT THE** **HELL DID YOU SAY?**

"I didn't agree if that's what you're thinking," Daniel answered after reading the note. "It was tempting though."

His three teammates let out breaths they hadn't realized they were holding, and visibly relaxed.

"Don't ever drop something like us again, and not immediately clarify," Dakota begged. "I am way too damn young to die from a heart attack."

"I knew you wouldn't leave us," Lewis said, "The spirits said you still have an important role to play."

Nick flipped to a fresh piece of paper, and wrote out another note, this time much slower. Daniel read it, and looked at his team. "Okay, seriously; Lewis was the only one who was positive I didn't say yes? You guys really don't have much confidence in me, do you?"

"Well, it's an Aura dude," Dakota said. "If I didn't have an Aura either, I'd be pretty damn tempted myself. How were they going to even give you one?"

Daniel shrugged "No clue. Mr. Ironwood said it was all classified, or something like that." He strode over to his dresser, and began pulling out clothes, tossing them onto his bed next to Dakota and Lewis. The two of them quickly stood up and moved aside as several of Daniel's underwear landed where they were sitting moments before.

"Wait, I thought you said no?" Dakota asked, suspicion written on his face.

"I did," Daniel answered as he compared two pairs of jeans before selecting the one with no holes and tossing it on his bed. "Mr. Ironwood offered to show me around Atlas. Figured I should get out of Beacon for a weekend, so I said yes."

"That is so cool man!" Lewis exclaimed. "I've like, always wanted to go see Atlas Academy from the inside!"

"Yeah, and with you gone, the crowds might dissipate," Dakota added. "Hell, I might even get a good night's sleep! When do you leave?"

Daniel paused in his packing. His shoulders slumped, and he replied in a much lower voice. "I leave tomorrow afternoon. Should give you at least two, maybe three nights if you're lucky."

Dakota pumped his fist in celebration. "Hell yeah!"

Daniel ignored him, and returned to packing. Lewis went over to their shared closet and pulled out Daniel's school uniform, which he handed over to Daniel. "Here you go man. Dress for success."

Nick grabbed a bottle of water from his nightstand, and drank deeply from it. "Dress for cold too," he said in a whisper of his usual whisper. "Atlas is colder than a Schnee at a-" Unable to continue, Nick burst into a fit of coughs, and had to turn away from the others.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Daniel murmured. "Wish I had a coat or something in case my uniform doesn't cut it. I could probably borrow that wool cap Lunare has again, but I wonder if he'd-"

Daniel was interrupted by Nick shrugging off his large brown duster, and placing it in Daniel's hands. Daniel looked at it in surprise, awkwardly murmured thanks, then placed it next to his school uniform. "Right," he sighed as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything."

"Toiletries?" Dakota suggested helpfully.

"Sleepwear?" Nick whispered.

"Earplugs in case the crowds follow you to Atlas and continue protesting?" Lewis offered.

Daniel groaned in exhaustion. "Gods I hope not. I need this vacation."


	7. Chapter 7

_“Control, this is Flight Eight-One-Three requesting permission to land on runway Four-Five.”_

_“Flight Eight-One-Three, you are clear to land on runway Four-Five.  Be advised, there are work crews attempting to remove the snow drifts piling up on the sides of the runway.  Don’t let your wings hit them.”_

_“Confirmed Control, thanks for the warning.  Flight Eight-One-Three turning final runway Four-Five.”_

Daniel sat in the rear seat of the fighter jet, watching as the pilot banked and turned, bringing the snowy runway directly in front of them.  He flicked a few switches, and Daniel heard the mechanical whir of the landing gear and flaps being lowered.  The pilot increased their descent, and Daniel reflexively braced himself, holding his backpack between his knees even tighter.  There hadn’t been anything in the way of cargo space on the fighter, and he’d been forced to hold it there for the entirety of the four hour flight.

Daniel felt a light jolt as the jet made contact with the runway.  The pilot applied the brakes, and within seconds, they were rolling down the runway at a walking pace.  Following the control tower’s suggestion, the pilot steered clear of the snow drifts, even drifting off the dotted lines to avoid both the drifts and the workers.  Several minutes of taxiing followed before they reached a designated parking space.  As the pilot began shutting off the engine, Daniel pulled off the helmet he’d been given, and opened up his backpack to grab the wool cap.  He shoved it over his hair and unbuckled his harness at the pilot’s direction.  Finally, the canopy was unlocked, and slowly began to rise.

The moment the canopy was cracked, the lukewarm air created by Daniel and the pilot’s body heat was whisked away and replaced by the bone chilling winds of the northern kingdom.  Daniel grabbed the open front of Nick’s jacket, and began frantically buttoning the buttons in an effort to block the cold air.

As the ground crews pushed a metal ladder over towards the parked jet, Daniel felt he should say something to the pilot who had just given him a ride.  He leaned forward and reached around the ejection seat and tapped on the pilot’s shoulder.  The seat prevented Daniel from seeing the man’s face, but his helmet turned, and Daniel knew that he was paying attention.

“Um, thanks for the, ah, ride,” Daniel stammered off.  The fuselage came up to just below his neck, and his neck and face were already beginning to feel numb from the blisteringly cold wind.

The back of the man’s helmet bobbed up and down.  “You’re welcome kid.  Kind of odd flying a kid from Vale to Atlas, but nice to have an easy run for once.”

“Yeah, you fly, really good.” Daniel added.

“Well its not like I had six pedals to deal with,” the pilot said with a bit of a laugh.  “Besides, Atlas made most of their conventional planes with standardized controls so simple, a monkey could fly it; if they had the keycard of course.

Daniel was about to continue the conversation, but it was at that moment the ladder clanged against the hull of the fighter, signaling it was time to get off.  The pilot didn’t hesitate to leave, pausing only to grab the special keycard from the ignition system before standing up on his seat and swinging his legs over the side.  Practically sliding down the ladder, he stretched his back and handed the keycard to one of the technicians before catching a ride on a service vehicle and driving off into the depths of the base.  In the time it had taken the man to disappear, Daniel had only managed to learn the technicians wanted him to leave his helmet on the seat.  Standing up awkwardly, Daniel shouldered his backpack and did as the technicians asked.  He smirked slightly at the cartoonish image of a flaming ninja on the side of the helmet, then threw himself over the side of the fighter and onto the ladder; albeit with much less grace.

“Welcome Mr. Grigio,” one of the technicians said to Daniel.  General Ironwood is waiting for you in the hangar.  If you will follow me, I can direct you to him.”

“N-not much of a fan of the c-cold either then, eh?” Daniel asked, hugging his chest.  What little protection the cockpit of the fighter had given him was now gone, and even with both his school outfit and Nick’s jacket, his entire body was freezing!  Only the coldest of days in Vale got to these temperatures, and Daniel always made sure to stay in his basement room; which was much less drafty than the rest of the house.

The technician eyed Daniel with a look that stated he did not care for the joke.  Instead, he turned around sharply and strode towards the hangar at a brisk pace.  Daniel shoved his backpack over his shoulder and ran to catch up.  Even once he was following right behind the technician, Daniel had to nearly jog just to keep up with him.

As they entered the hangar, Daniel began to get an even better appreciation of the sheer size of the hangar. Along with the handful of fighters, there was a massive multi-engined bomber being worked on by an army of technicians.  As Daniel followed the technician underneath the wing of the bomber, Daniel didn’t even have to duck his head under the engines.  He gaped in astonishment as one technician stood up in the engine well to clean the turbines.

“You like what you see?”

Daniel and the technician turned as one to see General Ironwood striding towards the massive plane.  The technician immediately snapped off a salute to the General, which Daniel followed up with a small wave, still shocked at the sheer size of the machine.

“Atlesian AB-15,” General Ironwood rattled off.  It’s the largest purpose built bomber in the Atlesian military.  We use it to take out packs of Grimm heading towards kingdoms.  Each of its bombs can wipe out an entire bed of Death Stalkers.”

“Sir, permission to return the Captain’s ignition card to the quartermaster?” the technician interrupted, clearly wanting to be rid of escorting a teenager around the airfield.

“Of course Lieutenant,” General Ironwood said immediately, “I can escort Daniel from here.”

The technician saluted General Ironwood, which the General returned in kind, then turned smartly and strode off underneath the bomber towards a doorway built into the hangar.  General Ironwood watched him for a moment before turning back to Daniel.  “Well then Daniel, I hope you had a good flight to Atlas.”

Daniel nodded.  “It was pretty cool.  I mean, I’ve never flown before, so I don’t have much to go off of, but it was kind of awesome.  I kind of wish I’d been able to see Atlas from above though.  The clouds were too bad until we got to the airport.”

“Quite a shame,” General Ironwood said.  “While I must admit Beacon is by far the best looking of the academies, Atlas is a close runner up.  Hopefully a ground tour will suffice.”

Daniel frowned, noticing something the General had said.  Sorry, but did you say that you’d be escorting me?”

“Of course Daniel,” General Ironwood answered.  “I’ve cleared my schedule for the entire day.  I intend to show you everything Atlas has to offer.”

* * *

 

“So tell me Daniel, what do you think of the school?”

Daniel and General Ironwood were walking down a snow covered sidewalk, having just finished a several tour of Atlas.  They were now walking towards a large gray snow-covered administration building, where Daniel assumed the tour would end at General Ironwood’s office, and Daniel would be shown to a room where he’d spend the night and return tomorrow morning.

“Well sir, it’s definitely different from Beacon,” Daniel admitted, watching a line of men and women in gray sweatpants and tank tops running through the snow.  “You definitely stress PT more than Beacon.  We’re just encouraged to stay fit, and have to pass a test every other semester.  Also doesn’t seem to be a lot of people out of uniform here.”

General Ironwood followed Daniel’s gaze, and smiled.  “Well, that is how things are done at Atlas as well, but only for the upperclassmen.  A student’s first two years are primarily spent increasing their strength to the levels we deem necessary for Huntsmen and military personnel.  Furthermore, we stress wearing a uniform more than what you might see at Beacon.  Anyone out of uniform is generally a civilian, and we allow very few onto Atlas grounds.”

Daniel frowned as something in General Ironwood’s explanation made him realize something.  “Sir, General Ironwood?  I’ve got a question.  What exactly would happen to me if I transferred?  Class has already started, so it’s not exactly like I could join a team.  Teams won’t be created for another two semesters, right?”

General Ironwood nodded, impressed by Daniel’s forethought.  “Excellent question Daniel.  Don’t worry, we made sure to have a solution before extending our offer.  At Atlas, part of the curriculum for our senior teams is for them to act as instructors for the younger students.  This assignment can take several forms, usually as a teaching assistant or drill instructor.  In your case, you will be assigned to shadow one of the top teams this year.”

Daniel blinked in surprise, not expecting the answer he had been given.  “Really sir?  Wow, um, is your top team really best suited to watching over just one guy?  I’m not trying to be rude, but it seems like it’d be better to pair me off with someone closer to my level.”

“Not necessarily Daniel,” General Ironwood replied.  “Unlike other academies, it is mandatory for students complete a minimum of four years at a primary combat school before their application can be submitted.  Due to your age making this course of action impossible, the board of directors have allowed an exception, providing you train with the team selected.  These four will give you the best chance to succeed once you enter Atlas as a first year.”

Daniel blinked.  “Oh,” he said, slightly disheartened.  He hadn’t considered the fact that his lack of formal training could put him in a tough position for General Ironwood to accommodate.  “Well, thanks for making an exception for me.  I’m sorry if it made things difficult.”

General Ironwood laid a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and opened the door to the administration building.  A wave of hot air blasted from the open door, washing over them both as they stepped into the atrium beyond the door.  The heat warmed them both to the core, making Daniel take off his cap and stuff it in one of the duster’s pockets

“Don’t worry Daniel.  Even if you had gone through Signal before entering Beacon, I would still place you with this team.  The procedure to give you an Aura has never been tested before, for obvious reasons.  The team I am assigning you to shadow will watch for complications, as well as assisting you with living life with an Aura.”

At the end of the hallway was an elevator.  Unlike the ornate elevator in Beacon that went to Professor Ozpin’s office, the one here was gray, and functional.  It was no different from what you’d see in an office building.  General Ironwood pressed the call button, and the doors slid open, showing an equally bland interior.  They entered, and General Ironwoood held his left thumb to the button for the ground floor.  The button flashed, and a keypad slid out underneath the rows of buttons.  General Ironwood shifted slightly, blocking Daniel’s view of the keypad, and began typing in a long and complex code.  When he was finished, a light shined from the top floor button, landing on the General’s eye.  Abruptly, the elevator car shifted backwards, seeming to move from one track to another.  It then began descending; slowly at first, but quickly began to pick up speed.

“In fact, how about we go take a look at our Aural research facility right now?”  General Ironwood offered.

* * *

 

“Raise your arms please,” the security guard ordered.

Daniel immediately complied, lifting his arms to be perpendicular to the rest of his body.  As the security guard raised a wand and waved it over Daniel’s body, his eyes shot once more over to the other two security guards with rifles resting across their shoulders.  He’d already turned over everything in his pants pockets, but there was still enough metal on him somewhere to trip the metal detectors.  As the wand drifted over the pockets of Nick’s coat, Daniel was suddenly very relieved that he hadn’t asked Lunare for his coat.  The sheer amount of weaponry his friend had undoubtedly placed within his coat could easily have put him in some serious hot water.

The security guard paused over a few areas on the duster, but apart for a couple of coins and a multitool, he didn’t find anything of interest.

“You’re clear sir,” the guard told Daniel as he hung the wand on his belt.  For security purposes, I have to ask you to leave your coat and hat here.  You can retrieve them, along with your scroll and wallet once you leave the secure area.

Relieved Nick hadn’t left anything bad in his pockets, Daniel shrugged the duster off of his shoulders and handed the coat and wool cap to the security guard, who laid it on a table next to his wallet and scroll.  They were then waved through the checkpoint, and free to enter the facility.

“You take security pretty seriously here,” Daniel said once they were clear of the checkpoint and the guard’s ears.

General Ironwood nodded, but his face had turned very serious the moment they had stepped out of the elevator.  “Atlas is more than just a Huntsmen Academy.  It’s also the headquarters for the largest military force on Remnant, and the leading researchers of Dust and Aura.  There are hundreds of things that could happen if the wrong person got their hands on what we have.  So yes Daniel, we do take security very seriously.”

Beyond the security checkpoint was a long corridor with doors at regular intervals leading off to different rooms.  General Ironwood placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder once more, guiding him down the corridor, seeming to focus on the doors off in the distance.

“So, what exactly is this place?” Daniel asked.  “It sounded like we’re going to see how I could get an Aura, so I guess this is a research area?”

General Ironwood considered Daniel’s question before answering very slowly.  “That is close, but not quite,” he admitted, “I can’t go into too much detail due to security, so lets just say this is a location where research Atlas conducts is sent once it is  deemed high security; so it is both a research area, as well as a location safe from people who would be very interested in state secrets.  Very few people are aware of its existence.  It goes without saying, but if you breathe so much as a word about anything you see here without my permission, you will be locked up for a very long time.”  The hand tightened on Daniel’s shoulder, making Daniel wince at the unexpectedly powerful force.  “Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes sir,” Daniel said through gritted teeth.  “Not a word.”

The pressure was relieved, but the hand remained on Daniel’s shoulder.  “That’s good to hear Daniel,” General Ironwood said.  “I apologize for being so severe Daniel, but we can’t take risks, not when there are people who would kill to get in here.”

They stopped at a door, and General Ironwood typed in another code.  The lock clicked off, and General Ironwood opened the door.  Inside was a large lab with several Humans and Faunus working on what looked like bits of electronics and machinery.  A few of them looked up when General Ironwood and Daniel entered, but most stayed focused on their work.

“This Daniel, is where we moved the Aura research project once it began making significant breakthroughs,” General Ironwood said in a hushed tone.  “We gathered the greatest scientists in the field of Aura studies to expand on our breakthroughs.  In fact, here comes one of them now.”

One of the scientists, a female Faunus with deer ears poking out of her brown hair, had left the computer station she was manning and was striding towards them, still looking at a tablet in her hand.  It wasn’t until she arrived in front of General Ironwood and Daniel that she looked up from her work.

“General Ironwood, I didn’t know we were expecting you,” she said.  “If I had known, I would’ve had a report written of our progress this week.  There have been some new developments that I am sure you would be most interested in.”

“Not to worry Doctor,” General Ironwood said.  “This is more of a social visit than anything.  Doctor Azaleas, this is Daniel Grigio, the boy you were so interested in.  Daniel, this is Doctor Azaleas.  She was the one that first suggested that she and her team could use their developments to give you an Aura.”

Doctor Azaleas transferred her tablet to her left hand, and stuck her right hand out towards Daniel.  “Pleasure to meet you Daniel.  My team and I look forward to working with you on Aura research.”

Daniel accepted her handshake.  “Uh, same here,” he said, not having the heart yet to tell her that despite everything that he had seen, he still was unsure if he wanted to leave Beacon.

“Doctor, where is your team’s leader?” General Ironwood asked, “I was hoping to introduce Daniel to him.”

“He left half an hour ago to work on project Penny,” Doctor Azalea answered.  “You could take Daniel to see him, but I don’t know if he would appreciate being disturbed.  You know how he is,” she added apologetically.

“No, that particular, project, isn’t ready to be unveiled to anyone without proper clearance,” General Ironwood said, while looking towards Doctor Azalea with a look of displeasure.  “Tell me, has he not been spending an excessive time working on that project?  I don’t want him becoming distracted from the primary reasons Atlas has devoted the resources it has to Aura research.”

“Well sir, she is his daughter,” Doctor Azalea commented.  General Ironwood shot her a withering glare, and she backed up under its intensity.  “Purely from the standpoint of the project being his brain child,” she added hastily.”

“Yes, from a creator’s standpoint,” General Ironwood murmured.  Daniel, we’d better get going.  You had an extremely long flight to Atlas, only to walk around Atlas for several hours.  You must be exhausted.”

“Well, kind of,” Daniel admitted.  “But I also want to see how I’m getting an Aura.”

“That’s still classified information,” General Ironwood replied, as he took Daniel by the shoulder and guided him away from Doctor Azalea.  “When you transfer to Atlas, you will be fully briefed on the procedure.”

Daniel turned around to say goodbye to Dr. Azalea, but all he got was a glimpse of her nervous face before General Ironwood closed the door to the lab.  The lock reengaged behind them, sealing the lab up once more.  It wasn’t until the click of the lock finished echoing through the corridor that General Ironwood let out a breath of air.

“Doctor Azalea is one of the most passionate members of her team,” General Ironwood said bluntly as they walked back towards the elevator.  “Her passion for Aura research often leads to her talking about sensitive material.  If she wasn’t the only one competent enough to do what she does, I would have had her replaced months ago.  As it is, she’s already on probation.”

Daniel winced at General Ironwood’s blunt answer.  “That sounds, really harsh.  You sure that’s really necessary?  I mean, all I know about Project Penny is that your leader is like, super invested in it.”

“I wish it weren’t.  But there are some side projects the scientists in that room are conducting, that toe a very morally gray line.  I have to ask you once again not to breathe a word about what you saw, including project names.  Leaking sensitive information without a superior’s consent is grounds for court martial.”

“You got it sir,” Daniel said as he picked his stuff up from the security table, putting his wallet and scroll in his pocket while choosing to fold Nick’s duster over his arm.

General Ironwood called the elevator back down, then smiled slightly.  “I certainly hope you enjoyed your tour of Atlas, Daniel,” he said.

“Sure did.  Kind of wish we could’ve stayed in Aura research a bit longer, but I guess I get why we had to leave.”

They rode in the elevator in silence, waiting patiently for the car to move onto the normal track.  As the doors opened and they stepped, a female voice called out from the end of the corridor.

“There you are General Ironwood.  Greeve asked me to bring team GREY’s after action reports for analysis.  There were several patterns we noticed during our patrol that he wanted me to point out, since I was the one who noticed the Grimm in the first-”

Daniel looked over in surprise, wondering why she had abruptly stopped.  The girl, who had been steadily walking towards them before stopping, was a few years older than Daniel with emerald eyes and long red hair put into a French braid.  Like everyone Daniel had seen at Atlas who wasn’t training, she a light gray tunic over gray pants and black boots.  Unlike everyone else, who regarded the red haired teenager in a Beacon uniform with mild curiosity, she stared at Daniel with a look of pure shock.

General Ironwood ignored the girl’s shocked expression, and took the files she held in her hand.  “Thank you Ms. Scope, I hope there won’t be any complications in the wargames due to your patterns.”

Unable to find her voice, all the girl could do was nod her head in agreement.

“Daniel, this is Rojoe Scope from team GREY.  I believe you two met?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel catches up with an opponent, and finds out if this vacation was really worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY! For some reason it didn't want to get sent out last Wednesday when I published for everywhere else, and I've kind of been preoccupied since. Please forgive me!

"Yeah, yeah we've met," Daniel said, warily watching the woman who had been his enemy just last week. What would she do to him? Would she scream? Would she call him out? Would she attack him in front of the General?

He was saved from whatever Rojoe had planned by a buzzing that came from General Ironwood's pocket. Frowning, the General pulled out a scroll and answered it. "Ironwood," he answered curtly. His face quickly turned to a mask of stone as a voice on the other end began yelling at him. "What? The shipment was stolen? All of it? Are you sure Mr. Schn- no, our spider droids are autonomous and do not report security breaches until coming within range of a transmitter. That's why we place them on trains." A pause, then "Yes Jacques, I am well aware of how much fifteen train cars of Dust cost in this economy. I assure you, I will make it a priority for Atlas to find who is responsible and bring them to justice. I'll have the search underway before the day is out. Yes, yes, of course we'll increase security until we bring them to justice. We need that Dust just as much as whoever stole it." General Ironwood looked over at Daniel and Rojoe who were watching him with confusion, only being able to hear one side of the conversation. "I've got to go. Rest assured this will be dealt with in the correct manner." He ended the call, and lowered the scroll from his ear, sighing as he did so.

"Something wrong General?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing at this moment," General Ironwood answered. "Daniel, I'm afraid your tour of Atlas is going to be cut short. I need to devote my full attention to this situation. Rojoe, escort Daniel to the guest quarters, then have your team assemble in the briefing room immediately following. If we can get a positive ID on the thieves, I might need your team to go after them."

"Hm? Oh yes sir!" Rojoe said. "I will go, do those things you just told me to do immediately sir." She saluted, and General Ironwood distractedly returned the salute before striding away, the phone already back up to his ear as he barked orders out, preparing to search for the missing train of Dust.

General Ironwood had barely rounded a corner before Rojoe abruptly turned around to Daniel. "What are you doing here?" she demanded to know.

"What am I doing here?" Daniel asked affronted. "That's all you have to ask? Not; Hey, how are you alive from my friend hitting me across the chest with his ax, which I can't block by the way since news flash; I'm the only guy on Remnant who can't generate an Aura? Also by the way, sorry for my friend hitting you across the chest with an ax and making everyone think you're a spawn of Grimm."

"Stop, stop." Rojoe demanded, holding up her hands. "Say that again, but slower please?"

Daniel took a deep breath. "I don't have an Aura. That shot your friend threw in as you were leaving, I couldn't block it. Took eleven stitches just to close it up." Daniel opened up Nick's duster and pulled up his shirt to reveal the stitches sitting on his chest.

Rojoe shook her head, trying to process what Daniel was saying. "Okay, sorry, you're saying you're Daniel Grigio, and the news wasn't lying? Like, it's not just that you haven't unlocked it yet, you literally will never use an Aura ever?"

"Not naturally," Daniel said. "General Ironwood thinks some sort of top secret project Atlas is working on can give me one. That's why I'm here."

Rojoe shook her head. "This, this is so weird. At least we now know how you're not dead."

"Why would you care that I was dead? Your friend hit me with an axe and ran off."

"Well, you should be dead. Greeve's semblance,"

"Sorry, Greeve? Was he the asshole with the ax?"

"That's Yarrow," Rojoe corrected. "Greeve is my, is our team leader."

"So the tall asshole in the gray everything? Weird purple vortex that made me feel cold and tingly inside?"

"That's Greeve," Rojoe said. "His semblance is creating portals. But he's the only one that can go through them. Anyone else gets their Aura sucked out and, well, dies."

Daniel gulped. "Well, good thing I don't have an Aura then."

"I guess without an Aura to be drained, you were able to pass right through. Just like a-"

"Hey, don't use that term," Daniel warned. "I know what you're going to say, and I'm tired of hearing it."

Rojoe crossed her arms and looked Daniel in the face. "For the record, I was going to say animal. However if you would prefer to be compared to a filthy Grimmspawn like many civilians are probably doing, I can oblige."

"I, well, no," Daniel said. "Animal will do."

"Unlike Yarrow, I have tact."

"Fair enough," Daniel admitted. "And it's Daniel Grigio by the way."

"Rojoe Scope. Although since you probably paid a bit more attention to the General, you already knew that." She paused for a second, and looked over at Daniel, a he noticed a hint of embarrassment sneaking through her facade. "Actually, what were my orders?"

"Take me to the guest quarters, and assemble your team in the briefing room, wherever that is."

"Right. Wait, why does my team need to get to the briefing room."

"I don't know. I think that call General Ironwood got was about some Dust being stolen."

Rojoe winced. "Again? Ughhhhhh. I can't believe this. That's the third time the White Fang have attacked the Schnee Dust Company this month! Literally no other terrorist organization is so hell bent on attacking one single target. Thanks to them, the General is probably going to send my team off again when we just got back from a scouting mission. I know we're one of the top teams and everything with a ninety-seven point four percent success rating, but we do have training to finish up. I mean, we haven't even started instructing any younger students, and we can't graduate until that happens, meaning I could be stuck with Yarrow as a roomate for another year. I mean, do you have any idea how much stress he gives me? I once woke up with three screws in my mouth because I 'made an excellent screw holder'. Anyways, I'd better get you to the guest rooms quickly; If Schnee Dust just lost another shipment, the General will want to get us out there immediately. Sorry if this feels a little rushed, but we do have a time constraint now."

"Don't, mention it?" Daniel asked, not entirely sure how Rojoe had managed to say all of that in one sitting.

"Follow me then," Rojoe said. "Double time, Daniel."

Rojoe took off towards the double doors at a brisk march, leaving Daniel in the dust. Shaking his head in wonder of the past several minutes, Daniel took off after her, desperately trying to catch up. Atlas was a much more active school than Beacon, Daniel decided.

* * *

The transport shuddered to a halt, and the doors opened, allowing Daniel to step out into a bright sunny afternoon at Beacon. Nick's coat held over his arm, his backpack over his shoulder, he walked into the courtyard and began making his way towards the dorms. Behind him, the transport's engines revved up and lifted the ship back into the sky. It soared overhead, and Daniel stopped to watch it turn back to Atlas. As it passed over the Headmaster's tower, Daniel's gaze was pulled down to where the protesters were lined up. Or at least, where the protesters  _had_  been lined up. The area was now bare, save for some students milling around, and an abandoned protest sign.

Daniel had been right. He had needed this vacation.

"Hey Daniel!"

Daniel turned to see team DDLN waving at him. Daniel waved back, and then broke out into a sprint to meet up with them.

"What took you so long?" Dakota asked. "We got your message, and figured you'd be back hours ago. Tell me you didn't come in that big transport."

"Yeah, it was all they could spare," Daniel said as he tossed Nick his jacket, which he caught effortlessly. "They needed all hands-on deck for a big Dust robbery they were checking out."

"Yeah, we heard about that," Dakota said. "VNN was saying the price tag on those cars was several million. By just one or two guys apparently."

"Really? Dude, that's crazy. Anyways, ah, what did you guys do over the weekend?"

"Oh, just the usual man," Lewis said. "Studied for Oobleck's test, finished Professor Port's report, stopped an evil robot from tearing up a hospital. You know, the usual."

"Lewis had a lucid dream," Nick explained.

"I keep telling you guys that was real! I mean, how do you explain my broken guitar?"

"You mean besides the fact that you sleep with it and you fell off your bed last night?" Dakota asked. "I saw you on the floor this morning holding it. You should be glad Lunare had enough metal to fix the neck."

"Hey, speaking of, where is Team Luster?" Daniel asked.

"They're down in Lunare's garage, trying to convince him to remove the cannon," Dakota answered. "Vale Police tracked him down and said he'd be arrested if he didn't at least take the cannon off."

"We should totally have a moment of silence for the cannon," Lewis said. "Gone before its time, it shall never be forgotten." Lewis bowed his head in respect, a motion none of his other teammates copied.

"Right, anyways, how was Atlas?" Dakota asked, trying to move the conversation away from the awkward turn it had taken.

"It was, cool," Daniel replied. "And I mean that both figuratively and literally. It was freezing there. Thanks again for your coat Nick."

Nick, who was in the process of pulling his duster over his shoulders, paused to give Daniel a thumbs up before finishing pulling it on and began to button it up.

"It was also way bigger than Beacon since it's like, both the military and the school mixed into one," Daniel continued. "Including some R&D stuff. General Ironwood showed me some labs underneath the school where they're doing all this Aura study stuff. Although now I'm probably a dead man for telling you all that," he added in a joking manner.

"Secret underground labs?" Dakota said incredulously. "You're pulling our legs on that one. There's no way they put all their eggs in one basket like that."

"No, I'm dead serious!" Daniel protested. "They had finger recognition, eye scanners, heck, the elevator did some weird sideways thing before going down. You'd never know it was under there. Heck, Beacon could have something like that and we'd never know!"

"Ask Lunare," Nick replied, "He showed a map of Beacon air ducts, and Rage banks. If anyone would know, it would be hi-" Nick broke off into a ragged cough, forcing him to reach up and clutch his throat him pain.

"If we do have something, it's probably full of those protesters," Dakota said. "It would explain how the hell they disappeared without a trace."

"Oh, uh, quiet weekend then?" Daniel asked.

"I haven't gotten such good sleep since I got out of the hospital after escaping Glas," Dakota said, relief flowing from his voice. "Literally five minutes after you left, they stopped protesting and just left."

"That's good to hear," Daniel admitted. "I was not looking forward to dealing with them again.

"The feeling is mutual," Dakota said. "Hell, the other students haven't given us crap either. Seems things are finally going back to normal."

"HEY GRIMM KID!"

Daniel looked up in time for a deluge of water to fall from above and land directly on him. The rest of his team managed to leap away to avoid the worst, but Daniel was absolutely soaked. He looked up to see who caused it, but whichever window it had come from, the occupants had already retreated inside.

"Yeah, back to normal," Daniel muttered.

* * *

While Daniel had been visiting Atlas, Professor Ozpin had made an announcement to the students, reminding them of Beacon's rules against harassment and reinforcing the punishments. As a result, Daniel didn't have to worry about any more incidents like what had happened with the upperclassman before he left. No open threats, no scorning, nothing of the sort.

If given the option, Daniel would go back to this in a heartbeat.

Very little had actually improved over the weekend. Daniel could still sense the hatred and fear radiating from everyone he passed by. The only result of Professor Ozpin's actions was that it was all bottled up. No one could act off their emotions. At least, not in an obvious way.

With the exception of the water thrown at him from above, it was all very subtle. A foot shooting out from under a table by accident to trip him, a hard shove as they walked through the halls, an overenthusiastic slap on the back while he was eating breakfast; the worst was a kick to the gut as Daniel had bent down to tie his shoe. The blow sent bolts of sharp pain into his chest as the skin held together by the stitches was pulled and stretched taut. The offenders apologized immediately, saying that they hadn't meant to do it, but their words hadn't been sincere.

It made Daniel miserable.

It was on the day after the gut kick that Daniel was called up to see Professor Ozpin. It had been several days since Daniel had returned from Atlas, and he was already missing the quiet weekend in the snow-covered kingdom.

When he arrived in Professor Ozpin's office, the headmaster was bent over a stack of papers, frowning at their contents. Unsure what to do, Daniel stood awkwardly in front of the elevator doors, trying to decide what to do. It was decided for him when Professor Ozpin seemed to sense his presence and looked up to see him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Grigio," he said. "Please, have a seat."

Daniel did so, and Professor Ozpin pushed the stack of papers to one side. "I wanted to know how you felt about your visit to Atlas. I understand General Ironwood spent an unprecedented portion of his day personally conducting your tour."

Daniel groaned inwardly. He'd been asked by everyone who would still talk to him how the tour was. LSTR, his own team, even some of his professors had been curious. The first couple of times he'd been happy to oblige, but It was now starting to get on his nerves.

"Well sir," he said tiredly as he began the speech he usually gave, "It was very cold at Atlas. General Ironwood showed me that it was both a school and a military base, which was a bit odd to me. I also saw-"

"Forgive my interruption Daniel, but I was asking not what you saw, but how you felt about your experience at Atlas. Is it making you reconsider General Ironwood's offer?"

This threw Daniel, and he had to pause for a moment to order his thoughts. Between classes and the hell he was being subjected to by his classmates, he hadn't been able to consider the offer since he got back. On Sunday afternoon, he had still held adamantly to his wish to remain in Beacon. But now;

Daniel's thoughts were interrupted yet again by a soft beeping sound. Professor Ozpin looked equally startled and began shifting papers to the side before locating a glowing portion of his clockwork desk. He pressed down on the glowing spot and answered, "Yes?"

" _Professor Ozpin, the Board of Directors would like to speak to you,_ " the voice of the receptionist AI said. " _They say it is a matter of upmost urgency._ "

Professor Ironwood sighed and lowered his head. "Inform the Board that I will speak with them shortly. I am in the middle of a meeting with one of my students." He lifted his finger from the glowing spot, and it faded away. He then lowered his head and pressed his fingers to his temples. "Daniel, I regret to inform you that our meeting will have to be cut short. The Board of Directors are getting more and more persistent, and their presence is quite taxing.

"I'm sorry sir," Daniel said. "I know they probably want me kicked out of Beacon. If I had known this would happen, I never would've applied to Beacon."

"Daniel, I knew from the moment you walked into my office that this day would someday come. I expected there to be those that would oppose your attendance here, and prepared for the eventuality. And while I admit that the opposition has been stronger than what I expected, you are still my student and I will fight for your ability to remain a student as long as I am headmaster."

Another light pulsed on Professor Ozpin's desk. He saw it and sighed, reaching for a white mug. "The Board is contacting me directly. Thank you for coming Daniel. I apologize for calling you here and not giving you a chance to answer my question. Perhaps we can have this conversation at a better time."

"Of course sir," Daniel replied. He stood up and made his way towards the elevator doors. He had just pressed the button to call the elevator up when a thought struck him. "Sir, just one more thing," he said hastily, "If I did end up going to Atlas, what would happen to my team?"

Professor Ozpin regarded Daniel with a piercing gaze, and Daniel was suddenly aware that he may have just answered his question. "Like I said when you first met General Ironwood, you are the leader of your team. As such, your decision will affect not only yourself, but the effectiveness of your team to function in combat. If you are continuing to consider General Ironwood's offer, you must be aware of this fact. However, I spoke to team LSTR, whom I understand your team is close to, while you were away in Atlas. Should you choose to transfer to Atlas, they have agreed to merge with the remnants of your team, and form a larger team for the remainder of their time at Beacon."

Daniel nodded and stepped into the elevator. "Thank you sir. I needed to know they would be taken care of."

"Of course Mr. Grigio," Professor Ozpin said as the doors closed. "After all, they are my students as well."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A deadly situation forces Daniel to make some very hard choices

Team CFVY hurried through the corridors of Beacon, racing against the clock. Time was not on their side as they had a test with Professor Peach that began in less than two minutes, and she was not a teacher that forgave lateness on tests. As they neared the doors to the lecture hall, they slowed their speed to a brisk walk so as not to appear out of breath. Right as they were about to turn the final corner to the lecture hall, the almost collided with another student, apparently extremely deep in his thoughts. The student took a reactionary step back, mumbling an apology to the group. The voice caught Velvet's attention. She had only seen him a handful of times, but the times she had were moments one wouldn't forget. It was after all, difficult to forget being strapped down in preparation for a vivisection.

"Daniel?" she asked in surprise, "is that you?"

"What, oh hey Velvet," Daniel said in equal surprise. "I haven't seen you since, well," he trailed off not wanting to relive that particular memory.

"I was wondering, how were you doing?" Velvet asked. "You didn't look to good when they pulled you out, and then I heard about-"

"Velvet we need to go!" Coco called out. "We're going to be late!"

"But,"

"Leave him, come on!"

Velvet looked at Daniel awkwardly. "I, have to get going," she said with a hint of regret. She opened her mouth to say she'd talk to him later, but the tolling of the clock bells signaled the beginning of class. With a squeak, she took off running after the rest of her team.

 _Poor Daniel_ , she thought. She had overheard his teammate and the other boy talking while in Professor Glas' compound, and had put two and two together. Looking back, it made sense why Professor Glas had attempted to do what he did. Now that his secret had gotten out, she'd seen how the rest of Vale and even the school had treated him. She hoped that he wouldn't take her sudden departure the wrong way.

* * *

Daniel felt like his heart was being ripped out. He hadn't seen Velvet since they'd been kidnapped, but she had been the first student at Beacon to actually talk to him, and one of the few people outside of DDLN and LSTR that didn't outright scorn him. Now he watched her running after her teammates, after seeming to want to say something. The past few weeks had some terrible things happen to him, but this one somehow seemed to cut him straight to the core. He took a deep sigh and continued trudging his way back towards the dormitories.

Daniel hardly noticed the walk back. He was pretty sure he passed by some students. He thought one of them might've tried something on him. He couldn't tell; he was too deep in his own thoughts to tell. All he knew was that one moment he was standing in a corridor having just met Velvet, the next he was turning the handle to his dorm room. The rest of his team was there, having met up after classes were dismissed to work on homework.

"Hey Daniel, how'd your meeting with Ozpin go?" Dakota asked.

"Fine," Daniel muttered as he sat down at a desk and pulled out his homework.

"Yeesh, that bad huh?" Dakota said, eyeing the team leader. "He didn't say you had to leave, did he?"

"No, it's just," Daniel took a deep breath. "It's nothing. I don't really want to talk about it."

"You sure?" Dakota asked. "You don't look real-"

"I said I was fine okay!" Daniel snapped.

Nick stood up and stepped towards Daniel, his hand outstretched to place it on Daniel's shoulder. Sensing the motion, Daniel's hand shot up and slapped Nick's arm away. "I don't need to be calmed down Nick, just please leave me alone."

Nick took a step back, now very concerned for his friend. He opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to change his mind. "If you say so," he said as he turned around and returned to his own homework.

Nick and Lewis exchanged glances as both Daniel and Nick clicked open pens and began writing their answers. Like Nick however, they didn't pursue the matter, instead returning to their own respective homework. Soon the only noises were that of scratching pens and the occasional inquiry about a problem.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, soon becoming nighttime. Daniel wearily put down the pen, rubbed his eyes, and looked at what he had accomplished. It wasn't pretty. With his mind on recent events, he had only managed to complete two problems and half a paragraph on Oobleck's essay. Groaning, he resigned himself to completing the problems in the morning before class and got ready for bed. His teammates followed suit, and soon the lights were turned off and they began to nod off.

Daniel tried everything he knew to get himself to fall asleep, but nothing was working. His head was too full of thoughts, his body too stressed out about what was going on. He could even hear the faint whispers of the voices in the background. Which of course filled his head with even more thoughts, and stressed him out even more. He spent several hours like this, fighting against his own body and mind to get any bit of sleep he could manage. As the cracked digital readout on his watch turned to 2:00, his body finally began to nod off out of sheer exhaustion. His muscles relaxed, his consciousness started to fade,

Only to violently be brought back to his senses as he found that he suddenly couldn't breathe. Something soft was being pressed into his face, preventing any air from entering. Fear coursed through Daniel's body as he struggled to free himself from whatever cruel prank a student had sunk to. His flailing hands connected with a body kneeling over his own. Daniel screamed and tried to hit his attacker, but his scream was muffled by the pillow and his blow glanced off of his shoulder. His attacker shifted on the bed and pressed down even harder on the pillow. Daniel reached blindly for his pistol lying on the bedside table, but his attacker swatted it off the table and onto the floor where it landed with a thud against the wood.

Daniel's lungs screamed for air as he began to black out. Adrenaline was blasting through his body as his dimming mind desperately dug for answers. As he struggled to get a breath out, the voices broke free of his control and overwhelming his thoughts. Everything went blank as he was filled with an all-encompassing inescapable anger.

* * *

Dakota was having a pleasant dream about DDLN being a normal team that didn't get wrapped up in half the situations in Vale, when he was abruptly woken up by loud yelling and struggling. Instincts honed from years in Vlad's gang kicked into gear in an instant. One hand flew underneath the pillow to pull his chain out while the other reached for the lamp on the desk. He flicked it on to reveal Daniel struggling with an unknown assailant. Clad in dark jeans, a black hoodie, and a black sock mask, Dakota couldn't make out who he was. All that he could tell was that his body was that of a teen, and that he had a bit of muscle on him.

Dakota made to jump on the attacker and throw him off of Daniel, but before he could move Daniel hit the man in the eye, making him flinch and loosen his grip on a pillow he held to Daniel's face. Grabbing both of his assailant's arms in a firm grasp, Daniel lifted them and the pillow off of his face. As his face was revealed, Dakota saw the glowing red eyes and knew that the situation had just gone from bad to worse. Now he had to make sure Daniel didn't kill the man on top of making sure Daniel didn't die himself.

Dakota jumped at Daniel to pull the two apart, but Daniel shoved the man's left arm ino him, pushing Dakota back a few feet. Before he could try again, a loud snapping sound rang out through the room, and the man howled in pain as both of his arms were broken by Daniel's grasp. As the pillow fell from now limp fingers, Daniel continued to push the broken arms back to cringe worthy angles. Before he could do any more damage however, Dakota socked Daniel in the face with a powerful hook, trying to stop his friend from doing something he would later regret. Daniel's head snapped to the side, and quickly turned to look at Dakota. He let go of the hands and grabbed Dakota by the dirty white nightshirt he wore, throwing him into the front door of the dorm.

Dakota pushed off of the door, and grabbed his chain by both ends. He was going to wrap them around Daniel and drag him off of the man if he had to. The man in question had taken the brief respite from the attack and tried to put some distance between him and Daniel. Without his arms and on the unstable surface of the bed, he didn't make it far before falling and landing on his broken arms halfway on the floor. His screams of agony were abruptly cut off as Daniel reached down and grasped him firmly by the throat. As the man gasped and spluttered for air, Lewis grabbed his guitar by the neck and prepared to smash it down on Daniel

"Don't!" Dakota yelled. "He doesn't have an Aura!"

"Then what do we do man?" Lewis frantically asked.

"Daniel, listen to me," Dakota shouted at Daniel. Their leader looked up from the choking man at Dakota, a scowl on his face.

Dakota swallowed before continuing. "I know whatever monster that's inside you is controlling you right now, but you've got to get back control." He pointed at Nick, then at Daniel, hoping Nick would get the message. Fortunately Nick was paying attention and pointed his revolver up, slowly stepping around Lewis' bed and moving towards Daniel. Daniel's red eyes glanced over at Nick, and Dakota hurried to grab his attention once more.

"You don't want to do this Daniel!" Dakota called out, wishing for once he had someone like Ryler who could talk for hours unless he was shut up. "You've stopped the guy who wanted to hurt you, and that's good. A for effort, although you loose points for breaking his arms. But that's the monster's doing, so I'll give the points back if you let him go and let us take it from-"

There was a mechanical cocking sound as Nick pulled the hammer back on his revolver. Daniel noticed it and threw the attacker at Dakota before turning to face Nick. The man collided with Dakota, and the two of them ripped the door off of the hinges, sending them both into the hallway beyond. Woken by the screams and struggling, the hallway was already full of students in various states of undress, all of them with weapons at the ready to combat whatever was going on. Dakota shoved the screaming man off of him as sounds of struggling came from their room. Squinting from the light in the hallway, he tried to make out what was going on in the room as the other students began voicing questions.

"What's going on?"

"Are we under attack?"

"Oh gods! His arms!?"

Before Dakota could do or explain anything, Nick stumbled into the hallway, dragging Daniel along in a full nelson "Can't, get through to him," Nick grunted. "He ain't wantin' to calm down."

Daniel snapped his head back, hitting Nick in the nose. Nick stumbled backwards, and Daniel slipped through his grasp, diving to his attacker. He landed on the man's chest and began pummeling him into the ground. Fists swinging wildly, any bit of him was a target. The surrounding students had their weapons raised in an instant and were pointing them at Daniel, yelling at him to stop. Lewis stepped through the hole as well, and jumped on Daniel's back, trying to pull him off of the man, but took an elbow to the face and was thrown off instead.

"Nick, get him!" Dakota shouted. Nick however was shaking his head, still getting over the hit to his nose. It was then that Dakota started to worry. If Daniel wasn't calmed down, the attacker was a dead man. So was Daniel if the crowd got any more antsy. Quickly, he scanned the crowd for Lunare's face. His Corabellum armor had been able to subdue Daniel once before, it might be able to do so again. Unfortunately unbeknownst to Dakota, Lunare was still at his garage, unmounting the Atlesian cannon to try and disguise it without having to return it to Atlas. Even if he were to leave right away to return to Beacon, he would arrive long after the battle was concluded.

Dakota's scan of the faces was ended by the sound of Lewis getting the wind knocked out of him. He had wrapped his arms around Daniel to pull him off, only for the monster controlling their friend to turn and redirect a quartet of blows on to Lewis. His aura held off the worst of the attacks, but he had to retreat under their intensity. The noise of the bystanders rose as more and more arrived on the scene. A metallic clicking sound was heard as an upperclassman next to Dakota flipped the safety off of a large pistol and leveled it at Daniel's head, clearly intending to end this once and for all. Without even thinking about it Dakota flicked his chain around his arm and pulled to the side. There was a loud report, and the bullet went wide, ricocheting off of the ground and disappearing into the crowd where someone yelled in pain and surprise as it found its mark. Daniel seemed to ignore the sound and returned to pummeling the man.

Dakota could see how quickly the situation was degenerating, and searched for a solution. An idea popped into his head, one that was risky to both him and Daniel, but could end the battle then and there. He considered it for a second, then made a snap decision as the attacker let out a weak cough, blood spurting from his mouth. Everyone saw it, and Dakota knew that many of the students were thinking that it was now or never to stop the monster before it killed the stranger. Dakota committed himself to the move, and jumped on Daniel's back, much like what Nick had attempted. Unlike his beaten friend however, Dakota grabbed the back of Daniel's head, keeping it from snapping back and hitting him in the nose. He wrapped his free arm around Daniel's neck and squeezed.

Daniel instantly ignored the man that had now become his victim, and reached up at Daniel, clawing at his hair and sputtering as his airflow was severely restricted. Dakota took note of this and cautiously increased the amount of force he was exerting. He had to be careful how much pressure he applied. Daniel didn't have an Aura, and could end up with a crushed windpipe if Dakota wasn't careful. Not to mention, Daniel could easily shift his weight and cause them both to fall backwards. Which he proceeded to do, slamming Dakota into the ground and throwing his weight on top of him. Had this not happened to Dakota many times before, it would've knocked him loose from Daniel. As it was, he still felt the blow and was slightly winded. As Daniel squirmed to get free, Dakota timed his struggles before throwing his weight with one of the twists, rolling Daniel onto his stomach. Dakota tightened his arm around Daniel's neck even further, and began counting. If he didn't hold the choke for enough time, Daniel might get a second wind and break free. Too long, and he risked harming or even killing his friend. It was a dangerous balance, that Dakota prayed he could get right.

Daniel's struggles abruptly went slack, and Dakota immediately released the tension, letting his friend fall limp, gasping for air. He stayed on top of him however, and kept his hand on the back of his head. He'd held the choke hold for way too short of a duration to have had any effect. Whatever controlled Daniel while he had an episode could be faking to get the upper hand. His suspicions were assuaged however, by the raspy voice behind him. "You can let him go," Nick said painfully. Dakota turned around to see Nick on the floor with a hand lying on Daniel's leg. He knelt down and grabbed on to Daniel just as Dakota began to choke Daniel into unconsciousness. This time, he was successful in calming Daniel down.

"Sorry about that Daniel," Dakota said as he unwrapped his arm from around Daniel's neck and stepped off of his friend.

Daniel violently coughed and rubbed the bruises on his throat. He tried to get up, but was restrained by Dakota and Nick who merely rolled him onto his back. "I mean it, don't get up," Dakota warned.

Daniel let out a weak cough and glanced at his friend. "Dakota, what, what happened here?" he rasped in a voice not unlike Nick's.

"It wasn't your fault. Some punk tried to kill you in your sleep, and you reacted. The broken arms were a bit much, but that wasn't you either."

"Broken arms, what are you," Daniel's eyes went wide as he realized what Dakota was saying. He pushed his friends off and sat up, viewing the carnage around him. "Oh no. no no no no no no. Please, gods no," Daniel desperately scanned the faces around him, seeking anything that would tell him he hadn't lost control of the voices again. Their expressions and the moaning of his attacker told all the story he needed to know.

"No! I didn't mean, I would never do this!"

"Bullshit!"

Daniel turned to see an older female student who despite the late hour, was wearing a pair of designer sunglasses. She was kneeling down next to another student. No, not another student.

"V-Velvet?" Dakota asked with a cough, horrified of what he was seeing.

"She got shot because of you," the older student seethed. "This is all your fault Grigio."

"Coco, I'm fine," Velvet panted, clutching her sternum. "I just, got the wind knocked out of me, that's all. It wasn't Daniel's fault."

Velvet's words fell on deaf ears for Daniel. Horror and fear coursed through his system. Frantically, he backpedaled on his hands and feet over the broken door and into their dormroom. Nick approached him cautiously, but Daniel kicked him away and flipped around. He threw himself at the closed window above their beds and shoved it open before hauling himself through. The hallway fell silent, save for the continued sounds of pain from the attacker.

"I should have shot sooner," the student who fired the shot said. "Then we wouldn't have a lousy Grimm loose on campus.

Dakota stood up and turned to face the student. Lewis and Nick mimicked his action, all three of them glaring daggers at him. Dakota let his chain slip out of his fingers and onto the ground already estimating how many detentions he was about to rack up.

"That," he said in a voice boiling with anger, "was a mistake."

* * *

Daniel's world was one massive blur as he sprinted across campus. Nothing registered as he put as much distance between himself and the student dormitories. For all he knew, he could've succumbed to the voices and lost control over his body. At least outside at this hour no one could get hurt. So he continued to run; down the roads of Vale, around trees, over bushes, he was almost positive he passed by the same points several times. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go; everyone would hate him after tonight.

Never had Daniel felt so trapped in such a large kingdom.

It was many hours later that Daniel began to register his surroundings once more. Somehow during his black-out period, he had managed to make it all the way up to the top of Beacon Tower, and was sitting on a ledge right above Professor Ozpin's office. A quick glance behind him showed that the clockwork desk and chair were currently unoccupied. For now, he was alone.

As the wind whipped around his body and through the clanking gears of the clock above him, he went over everything that had happened that night and found there was little that could have gone worse. Not only had someone broken into his dorm and tried to kill him, provoking the voices into taking over, but he'd attacked his own teammates  _again_  and even managed to injure Velvet. He doubted even the most hard core Faunus haters would condone what he did. When he already felt like he had hit rock bottom, Remnant had somehow found a way to make things even worse. For a moment, Daniel considered a messy but permanent solution to everyone's problems. Just a quick slip off of the ledge, and gravity would ensure this didn't ever happen again. He shook the notion quickly however, feeling that he was missing something else. Some big part of his current predicament that could solve this without resorting to suicide.

The sun had just started to peek up above the horizon when the answer finally came to Daniel. He was so shocked he'd forgotten about it, he almost fell off of his precarious perch. He had forgotten something important; he had another option!

It was at that moment, that the window to his side slid open with a loud clicking of gears. Professor Ozpin stepped out onto the ledge and looked over at Daniel. "Good morning Mr. Grigio. Do you mind if I ask you to come in? The winds tend to pick up at this hour."

"Hm? Oh, yes sir," Daniel said, standing up. He followed Professor Ozpin in through the opening in the glass and down to the main floor of his office.

"Can I interest you in some coffee?" Professor Ozpin asked, as he poured himself a cup.

Daniel shook his head. "No thank you sir."

"Very well," Professor Ozpin said as he took a long sip before setting the mug back down. "The Police picked up your attacker shortly after you left. He's in hospital, with broken arms and internal bleeding, but is expected to survive." He took another sip and looked Daniel in the eyes. "This was not your fault Daniel. Your teammates states so multiple times, and I have to agree with them. Humans and Faunus both have a fight or flight response when faced with a dangerous situation. It can often blind one to whom is friend or foe."

"It, it's not that sir," Daniel said. "I think you know that yourself. It's not like it wasn't obvious when we fought the team from Atlas."

Professor Ozpin pushed his mug to the side and sighed. "I will admit your behavior was curious that day. Your actions went on longer than what a fight of flight response might allow for. Would you care to expand on this?"

Daniel took a moment to compose his thoughts before taking a deep breath and telling Professor Ozpin everything. About the voices, the lack of pain, everything. Professor Ozpin stayed silent for most of it, only interjecting at times to have Daniel clarify a point. When Daniel was done, he took a long sip of a now cold mug of coffee, and stared at his table. "Even the greatest of burdens we ourselves carry can for a moment seem insignificant next to those of others." He looked up at Daniel with eyes full of compassion. "Daniel, why didn't you tell anyone about this?"

"I was scared sir," Daniel said. "I don't know what this is, and it scares me. The voices, the anger, it's like I turn into a Grimm when it takes over! I don't want to hurt anyone else!"

"Your teammates are fine," Professor Ozpin assured him. "A few bruises, but nothing of consequence. Ms. Scarlatina especially wants for you to know that she is unharmed, and wants you to know she doesn't blame you, nor does the rest of her team. Their reaction was born out of worry, not actual malice."

Daniel shook his head. "That's not the point! What about the next time this happens? Or the time after that? I could be away from my teammates, or they aren't fast enough. Sooner or later someone is going to die from this, unless I do something!"

Professor Ozpin said nothing, merely watching Daniel, who was now hyperventilating, struggle to control himself. Daniel's eyes darted back and forth, and for a moment he was certain he could hear the voices again. But they died down, and he was able to regain control of his breathing. It was only then that Professor Ozpin spoke. "There are some steps we can take to prevent this, but I fear that you are the only one who can decide if it comes out or not.

Daniel shook his head. "That's not good enough sir, this thing, this,  _abomination_  inside me, it needs to go away. And I think I know how to do it."

Professor Ozpin locked his fingers and peered over them in his smoky glasses. "And how would you do that?"

Daniel took a deep breath and uttered one of the hardest phrases in his life. "By getting an Aura. Sir, I would like to transfer from Beacon to Atlas and continue my Huntsman training there."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel packs to leave for Atlas. However, not everyone is happy with his decision to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for the week-long delay, but finals are a pain. Unfortunately this chapter is a bit on the short side, but I promise that there is more to come that is much longer than this. Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy, and as always feel free to drop a review of favorite/follow the story if you like it!
> 
> -Wrench

"So, Daniel decided to transfer to Atlas then?" General Ironwood inquired. "May I ask what changed his mind?" He winced as Ozpin explained what had transpired. "So that, thing inside of him broke free? I'll instruct the doctors to make preparations in the event it appears during the operation. Tell Daniel he can have a few days to remain at Beacon and give his team a proper goodbye." There was a pause. "He wants to leave immediately?" General Ironwood exclaimed. "Oz, is he certain?" Another pause, and General Ironwood lowered his scroll from his ear and tapped on it several times, bringing up a list of flights scheduled to enter Atlas. "There's a flight from Atlas to Beacon at four thirty this afternoon. Daniel has seat A eighteen. And Oz, be certain Daniel knows we appreciate what he's agreed to do."

General Ironwood ended the call and placed his scroll down on his desk. Now that Daniel had agreed to transfer, there was a lot that needed to be set in motion. The Aural Generator had to be prepared, the doctors had to be informed, not to mention the amount of paperwork involved in transferring a student between academies. But right now, General Ironwood allowed himself a moment of satisfied relief. Daniel was coming to Atlas as a student. His only qualm was how Daniel's team would function without him. Hopefully they would take the news well.

* * *

 

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dakota demanded. "You can't just leave us, you're our leader!"

"Not any more I'm not," Daniel replied. He had arrived several minutes ago to tell his teammates that he was leaving. Needless to say, they weren't taking it well. Dakota was the most outspoken of the three; bombarding Daniel with questions and accusations as he continued to pack.

"I don't know why Professor Ozpin made me leader, but he made a mistake," Daniel said. "Unlike me, Lunare actually has experience fighting. When you guys merge, he'll do way better than I ever did, you'll see."

"You were a fine leader Dan-" Nick tried to say, but was caught up in a fit of coughing, keeping him from finishing the sentence.

Daniel paused his packing and turned to Nick, irritation flashing in his eyes. "Really Nick? Do you seriously believe that? Have you even noticed the shit you've been through because of me?" He held out a hand and began counting off on his fingers. "I got Dakota and Lunare arrested, I nearly got both our teams killed by Glas when you came to rescue me, you can barely speak, and now everyone hates you guys because I'm your leader! So you'll excuse my cynicism, but no Nick, I was not a 'fine leader'."

"Would've. Happened. Anyways." Nick rasped out. "You're our. Teammate."

Daniel paused, his hands poised above his backpack with a folded shirt ready to be put in. The rest of his team watched him intently, praying that maybe, just maybe, he would change his mind. For a moment, it looked like he was teetering on the edge of changing his decision. Then his face lowered, and he let out a long sigh as he placed the shirt into his pack. "Then all the more reason to leave," he said. "They won't care about team Dandelion if I'm not a member."

"This is bullshit!" Dakota exclaimed. He stormed over and grabbed Daniels hand as he went for his spare pair of jeans. "Nick's right Daniel, we went through hell and back to save your sorry ass because that's what teammates do! You're doing a terrific job repaying us!"

Daniel rounded on his friend, anger flashing in his eyes. "You know Dakota, that sounds a lot like what Vlad probably said to you when you left his gang! I bet he'd love to see your hypocritical ass right now!"

Dakota's punch came out of nowhere. The force of the blow sent Daniel tumbling over his bed and slamming into the wall on the other side. As he bounced off and landed on the floor, his feet crashed into the bedside table. There was a sharp cracking noise as something broke underneath his weight and force.

Daniel stood up slowly, clutching his head as he eyed Dakota, trying to gauge his next move. Dakota still had his fists clenched and was breathing hard, but was looking at Daniel's bedside table instead of Daniel himself. Wary of a trick, Daniel shot a quick glance towards the table before properly turning his head to fully view the damage.

When his feet hit the table, they had landed perfectly on the picture of his mother Lunare had given him when he gave Dakota and Daniel a ride to Daniel's old house for his father's fingerprints. The frame and glass had been shattered, and the picture itself had been folded and crumpled up. When Daniel gingerly pulled it from the shattered remains of the frame and unfolded it, there was an ugly crease right over his mother's face.

No one in the dorm dared to move. All eyes were on Daniel as they tried to gauge how he'd react. Nick had been about to jump on Dakota to prevent him from attacking again before seeing the damage and was frozen in a crouching position. Lewis was covering his mouth in shock of what Daniel had said to Dakota. Dakota's mask of pure rage was quickly being replaced by one of regret as he desperately searched for some way to apologize to his friend. That picture was literally the only thing he had of his mom.

Daniel didn't say anything else. All he did was fold the picture neatly and carefully put it in his pocket. He then strode over to his backpack and roughly shoved the spare pair of jeans into the bag and crudely zipped it up. The last two things he grabbed before leaving were his saber and pistol, which he clutched in one hand and shoved into his belt respectively. As he grabbed the outside doorknob, Nick called out to him.

"Daniel, don't do this. Don't. Leave." Nick struggled to say more, but he fell into a violent coughing fit as his voice couldn't take any more.

Daniel's hand rested on the door and sighed one last time. "Just so you know, this isn't easy for me either." He closed the door behind him with a resounding click, leaving the room bare of any noise.

* * *

 

As the airship gracefully docked with the landing platform and began discharging passengers, Daniel stood up and slung his stuffed backpack over his shoulder. His weapons had been taken hours ago and were sitting in a box ready to be stowed with the rest of the luggage in the cargo hold. A few minutes passed, and a woman's voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing that his flight could be boarded. He shoved his backpack into the carry on compartment and sat down, waiting for the airship to take off. It did so several minutes later, having been quickly restocked and refueled while the passengers boarded. It detached from the landing pad with a quiet hiss, and slowly picked up speed as it ascended into the air.

As the airship neared the cloud layer, Daniel glanced out of his window. He could see all of Vale through his tiny view, including a small sliver of his home town near the edge of the bordering mountains. Up until he had been invited by General Ironwood to tour Atlas, that had been the only part of the world he'd ever known. And now he was leaving it, possibly until he graduated. He was overcome by sudden emotion, and had to glance away, tears threatening to spill out over his eyes. Very slowly, he reached up and slid the plastic shutter down over the window. It was only then that he managed to open his eyes and get his emotions under control.

Had Daniel continued to look however, he might've seen an unexpected sight. A four legged vehicle was tearing through the streets of Vale, headed straight towards the landing pads. It skidded to a halt in front of the loading area, and team LSTR leapt from the craft.

"I don't see any airships; I think we missed him." Schatten said.

"It could be running late; maybe he's still here!" Ryler said hopefully. He began scanning the crowd, searching for Daniel's familiar spot of red hair.

Lunare however had pulled a pair of binoculars from his coat and was scanning the sky to the north of the landing pads. "I'm afraid not Ryler. There's an outgoing craft entering the cloud layer north of us. It appears to be the model of intercontinental airships Atlas Air uses."

"Dammit, we were so close!" Schatten snarled. "I told you we should have checked in on them earlier."

Lunare lowered the binoculars from his eyes. "There is another flight that we could catch on the weekend. If we were to acquire tickets, we could meet him in Atlas and attempt to make him reconsider then. At the very least, we would be able to give him a proper goodbye."

"I say we don't." Tiberius countered. "Daniel clearly wants to be left alone, otherwise he would have stopped by to say goodbye himself."

Ryler turned to face his teammate, outrage sparking in his eyes. "How could you say that?" he demanded. "Daniel is our friend and we can't lose him like this!"

"I concur," Lunare said. "I will go right away and purchase the tickets." He began striding towards a ticket counter, but was stopped by a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"You will do no such thing," Tiberius said. "We have to leave Daniel alone."

With one hand, Lunare reached up and pushed on the sides of his glasses. With the other, he grabbed Nieh Mehr's handle and "I know you and Daniel aren't the closest of friends Tiberius, but I highly recommend that you let go immediately, so the rest of us can go see him."

If Tiberius was intimidated by his friend's aggression, he didn't show it. "If you go now you'll only antagonize him further," he continued. "You saw how his team was. I would be very surprised if he was feeling any differently than they are right now. If we give him time, then perhaps cooler heads will prevail."

The two of them stared at each other for several minutes, trying to stare the other one down. When the contest was ended however, it wasn't one of them that broke the spell.

"Lunare, I think Tiberius has a point," Schatten said. "I hate to admit it, but maybe we should give him some time."

Lunare glanced down at the ground, then removed his hand from Nieh Mehr and let it fall to his side. "I really do hate human emotions," he said irritably. "Horribly complex and confusing, not like machines."

"You're going to listen to him Lunare?" Ryler said outraged as Lunare turned back towards Scrapmetal.

"If Daniel wants to be left alone, the least we can do is give him space," Lunare said as he hoisted himself into Scrapmetal with a bit more force than was probably necessary. "Now if you would all please get back into Scrapmetal, we can leave before being arrested for bringing a cannon to the airport."

* * *

 

The moment that Daniel landed in Atlas, he was ushered into the academy and down into the underground aural research facility. The scientists had clearly been waiting for him, and immediately began subjecting him to a multitude of pokes and prods as they began gathering information on his overall physical health. As soon as they were done, they began to take samples of practically every bit of his body they could manage. Blood, urine, skin, one of the scientists even snipped a strand hair from his head. After what felt like several hours and likely was, they had an exhausted Daniel change out of his clothes and into a light green hospital gown. He was then instructed to lay down on a metal examination table, and was finally left alone.

Daniel waited there for several minutes, shivering and sweating not from the cold metal pressing against his back, but from the memories that flooded his mind, followed closely by the voices. His breath came in shallow gasps as his eyes darted around the brightly lit room. He wanted out, needed to get free. He'd kill anyone who tried to-

No! It was different. This wasn't Glas' compound. He wasn't strapped down. The people here were there to help him get an Aura, not to perform a vivisection. They weren't going to leave him alone for days on end. At least, he didn't think so.

He was just managing to get his emotions under control when the door creaked open and he nearly lost it. Daniel shot up and scrambled to get off the examination table as General Ironwood entered the room. The general's eyebrows shot up in surprise as Daniel tumbled to the floor, grabbing at a nearby counter as he fell. Daniel shot up from the ground, eyes wide and darting, looking for a way out, a weapon he could use, anything.

"I'm sorry Daniel, I didn't mean to startle you," General Ironwood said.

"No, it's fine General," Daniel said, taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart. "This just, brings back bad memories. I'll be glad when this is over."

A pained expression came across Ironwood's face. "I'm sorry Daniel. The doctors will be in to begin the sedation in a few minutes, and the procedure can begin then. If you would prefer, they can move you to a more comfortable room for when you wake up."

"Yeah, that would be, nice." Daniel said. "Just have them knock me out before saying procedure again. Glas used that word a lot and I really hate it now."

"I'll see what I can do," General Ironwood said. Now before we begin the procedure, there is something I need to tell you. It's about a doctor we brought on to,"

General Ironwood didn't get to finish his sentence. The door opened once more and let in a man Daniel had prayed he would never have to see again. There were differences to be sure, a change in attire, a greater state of dishevelment. But he would never forget that face.

"Good evening Daniel," Professor Arthur Glas said. "Are you ready to begin?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel Reacts to: Doctors! This episode: The guy who tried to vivisect him!

There was no wind up; no voices whispering for him to give up control. One moment Daniel was looking at the man who had tried to experiment on him alive, the next he was gone; replaced by the beasts inside. General Ironwood had him wrapped in a full nelson as he tried to keep Daniel from lunging at Glas. Glas himself stood calmly in front of the struggling pair, watching them fight for dominance.

"You'll want to keep him restrained until he calms down," Glas suggested. "When we fought, he did so with a fractured arm and enough wounds to incapacitate most humans, and still won."

"We, know!" General Ironwood grunted as Daniel growled and snapped at his former captor. "You need to sedate him! Second cabinet on the right."

Glas' eyes widened in mock surprise. "Really General? Does this mean that my position of advisor has been increased to operator, thereby allowing me to touch surgical equipment without you, and I quote, 'breaking every fudging bone in mine hands'?"

"Just, get, nurse!" General Ironwood shouted as Daniel shot his head back and slammed it into Ironwood's jaw. Momentarily distracted, Ironwood's grip slipped and Daniel broke free. He leapt up on the table and launched himself at Glas, only to be stopped mere inches from his face, clawing and snapping at his former professor. If Glas was unsettled by this, he didn't show it. Instead, he stared into the blood red eyes.

"This is somewhat rude of you Daniel," Glas said as General Ironwood dragged a snarling Daniel backwards. "I know we had our differences in the past, but growling and biting at me? I expected at the very least a proper battle between huntsmen."

"Glas, shut up and sedate him already!" General Ironwood had pulled Daniel off of the table and was pinning him to the ground. Daniel snarled and thrashed, but couldn't free himself from Ironwood's vise-like grip.

"Yes, yes of course General," Glas said as he moved over to the cabinet. "Although this might be a bit difficult, considering my situation."

"Just, do it!"

"Patience General, I need to find the correct formula. This shouldn't take but a, there we go." He pulled down a transparent brown bottle and a box full of syringes. He selected a syringe and stuck it into the bottle, filling it up as he strode over to Daniel. The closer he got, the more Daniel thrashed. It was truly a sight to behold as Daniel squirmed and writhed under Ironwood's powerful hold.

"Now Daniel, before we say goodbye, is there anything you would like to say? Last time we met you were attempting to scatter my brains across the floor, so it would be understandable if you forgot anything you wished to relay at that point," Glas said as he bent down in front of Daniel.

"K-kill, you!" Daniel rasped. "Kill you! Kill youuuuuuu!"

"I expected as much," Glas said. He grabbed Daniel by the hair and jerked his head aside, exposing his neck. He jammed the needle into a large pulsing artery and pressed the plunger down. Daniel writhed and hissed at Glas, but it was too late. Within moments his muscles slackened and he collapsed to the ground.

"Next time save the talk until after he's sedated," Ironwood said as he carefully lifted his weight off of Daniel's prone form. "I can still have that agreement revoked."

"Really General, is that truly necessary? After all, you already have me bound and forbidden from taking any medical supplies with me," Glas pouted as he lifted up his arms to show him the hand and feet cuffs linked together. "Shall I also put a gag in my mouth and complete the look?"

"If you weren't the leading expert on Daniel's condition, we wouldn't even be having this conversation," Ironwood said as the doctors finally rushed in to assist. "From here on, you don't talk unless you are asked a question or see an immediate danger to Daniel's health. If and only if you follow this simple directive, I will allow your request to be processed."

Glas opened his mouth, but closed it when Ironwood raised an eyebrow. Instead, he backed off and watched as doctors cautiously shuffled into the room and carefully lifted Daniel up and onto the gurney facedown; strapping his appendages down securely. Daniel was then stripped down to his waist as several points were marked on his skin. As this was going on, the head doctor turned to General Ironwood, his face covered with a surgical mask.

"We will be ready to begin in a few moments sir," he said in a voice muffled by his mask.

"And you are certain the procedure has been properly modified for human use?" General Ironwood asked.

"Within the acceptable room for error you allowed," the doctor replied. His brow furrowed and he asked, "If I may be so bold sir, I believe we should have warned him of the risks, however slight, before sedation."

General Ironwood sighed. "I had planned to warn Daniel before he, lost control. As it stands, I doubt he could make the correct decision with a clear head. You may proceed when ready."

* * *

"-And therefor, due to the lack of rooms large enough for your team's increased size, you will remain in the rooms you were assigned," Professor Ozpin said. "As I understand, your teams have been close for some time now, so the changes should be slight. Although should you chose to participate in the Vytal tournament next year, there might be some complications that we can cover at that time. Are there any question?"

Professor Ozpin had waited several hours after Daniel had left Beacon before he called teams DLN and LSTR to his office to discuss what would be happening now that Daniel had left. He had waited so as to give time for cooler heads to hopefully prevail should some of team DLN have taken his leaving personally. From the scowl on Dakota's face though, little had evidently changed.

"Will we, hear from Daniel?" Nicholas Ochre of the newly shortened team DNL asked Professor Ozpin. "Want to hear if he's, okay."

Professor Ozpin nodded. "Of course mister Ochre. General Ironwood will be contacting me as soon as Daniel is out of surgery. If I receive any further communications, I will be certain to pass them on as well."

"We should also like to hear anything from him," Lunare said. "My team and I considered Daniel a close friend and would like to be certain of his safety as well."

"I don't see why not," Professor Ozpin said. "Now if there are no further questions, I wish you all a good day, and best of luck on your midterm exams."

As the two teams exited through the elevator, Glynda Goodwitch turned to face Professor Ozpin, having held her tongue during Ozpin's talk. "Do you really think that this was a wise idea?" she asked. "Transferring a student like this, I worry about the precedent it will set."

"And by precedent, you mean letting Daniel transfer to another school that might be better at treating his condition?" Professor Ozpin asked.

"Ozpin, I mean the precedent of sending a student away instead of stepping in and dealing with the situation ourselves. And that's completely ignoring how we let a student in who will never generate an Aura on his own." She sighed. "It's times like this when I wonder if you made a mistake letting him attend Beacon. None of this would have happened if he hadn't come."

"And yet it is also times like this that I remind myself of what we did for Daniel," Professor Ozpin replied. "At the end of the day, we did what we believed to be right. By letting him in, Daniel was able to leave the life he endured at his home; as well as gain some skills he could use to defend himself when the time comes. I can't think of any other decision that we could have made that would have been for his benefit."

Glynda sighed. "If you say so Ozpin. I just hope that his team will take this well."

* * *

No one in team DLN's room spoke, not even Lewis or Ryler who both couldn't stand a moment of quiet. Everyone seemed to be engrossed in some menial task, not wanting to be the ones that broached the subject with the rest. Most of team LSTR weren't even certain why they'd entered into the room in the first place. After the meeting in Ozpin's office, they had followed Lunare, who had in turn followed team DLN back to their room. They half expected Lunare to attempt to cheer up the group with some sort of clockwork contraption he made between Ozpin's office and here. None of them expected it to work, but they all figured it would be good to try.

Out of all of them, Dakota was taking it the worst. No one had seen him this angry before; not even during initiation when Daniel had refused to look into his eyes. All he was doing was sullenly staring at his homework for Professor Oobleck, as if daring it to do something he didn't like.

After an eternity, Lunare was finally the one to break the silence. As he stood up, the rest of his team tensed, waiting for him to be pounced upon the moment he pulled something from his jacket. Instead, he surveyed the room and announced, "If no one else has anything left to say, I will take my leave. I'm expecting a shipment of parts for Scrapmetal's leg upgrade to the garage, and I don't want to keep the delivery driver waiting."

"I should probably go as well," Tiberius voiced. "I'm several days behind on my, ah, report on Schnee dust, and really should get it finished."

"Same here."

"I've got to replace the candles in the bedroom!"

"You know you aren't supposed to leave those lit. You're not even supposed to have them in the dorm to begin with!" Schatten said.

"Well it's like my mom always says; they can't get you in trouble if they don't realize it's-"

However Ryler was going to finish that sentence was drowned out by the closing of the door, leaving team DLN to themselves.

Nick was the first of them to move, getting out of his hammock and striding across the room to Daniel's bed. For one reason or another, Daniel's jean jacket was still hanging off of his bed. Nick picked it up and turned it over. The gashes left by Yarrow's axes were long and ugly, still tainted at the rough edges by Daniel's blood. He looked over and saw the rest of his team watching him; Lewis with mild curiosity, and Dakota with weary carelessness. He folded the jacket over his arm and pulled his notepad out of his coat.  _I don't know if either of you noticed, but Daniel left his jacket here. It's still ripped from fighting the Atlas team, but he might still want it._

"Nah man, I wouldn't worry about it," Lewis said.

Nick frowned and cocked an eyebrow at Lewis. When Daniel had announced he was leaving, Lewis had been almost as upset as Dakota had been. Since then however, he'd quickly changed his disposition, improving back to his normal self in a matter of hours.

"Daniel isn't gone forever guys, we'll see him soon enough," Lewis continued. "The spirits told me everything man. I'm telling you guys; we'll see him again and it's going to be-"

Lewis was interrupted by Dakota abruptly standing up and walking over to Nick. He yanked the jacket out of his arms, strode over to the open window, and tossed it out.

"To hell with your spirits, and to hell with him," Dakota said. He then strode back to his bed and grabbed his leather jacket off of it to throw over his shoulders. He then strode towards the door and ripped it open, disappearing into the corridor beyond.

Had he watched Daniel's jacket fall, he might've seen the it tumble through the air and land at Lunare's feet as he strode through the courtyard toward his garage. Lunare bent down and picked the jacket up, inspecting it for himself. He fingered the gashes in the front with a curious expression on his face before tucking it within his jacket and continuing on his way. There was a deliveryman to meet after all.

* * *

Daniel's mind was in turmoil.

Normally once his pulse rate slowed and his body calmed down, the voices would become quiet and eventually disappear.

Not this time though.

He'd had nightmares about the voices many times before. They'd increased in regularity after the day his secret was released, but he'd always woken up in a cold sweat right before they overwhelmed him. This time was different; this time he was stuck in slumber by whatever Glas had injected into him. This time, he was trapped in his mind.

The voices swirled and howled around Daniel; begging for control, demanding that they be let loose to wreak havoc against Glas. Grimm faces swirled into his vision, their teeth and beaks snapping mere inches from his face. Daniel wanted to let them loose so badly, at least then they'd be focused on something else besides him. But every time he tried to let them take control, nothing happened. He couldn't even escape into brief insanity that followed their takeover. It was as if he was on the verge of losing control, but was incapable of taking the final step.

Then suddenly, he woke up.

"Glas!" he shouted as he burst from slumber like a sea dragon bursting from beneath the waves. His eyes bolted wide as his hands shot up to his head, expecting for the voices to continue harassing him for a bit longer. Incredibly however, the only response he got was a painful tugging at his arm from an IV.

Confused, Daniel tried to take in what was going on. After the operation, he had evidently been transferred from the table to a soft hospital bed where he was lying face down with a hole in the mattress for his face to rest. Cautiously, he tried to roll over, but was stopped once again by the IV.

As he inspected the room from his limited point of view, there was a pounding of feet approaching his door. It burst open and half a dozen doctors and nurses rushed into the small room, instantly making it feel cramped. To complicate matters, someone had brought along a defibrillator and had seen fit to shove everyone out of the way to get it into the forefront. Daniel was immediately subjected to rounds of pokes and prods as every medical personnel in the room began rapid fire asking him and each other questions.

"Check his vitals! Are they still fluctuating?"

"Warm up the defibrillator, we might have to use it!"

"Mister Grigio, how do you feel?!"

"Is the implant causing you any trouble?"

Before they could get into a repeat of what had happened before the operation, a voice called out behind the doctors.

"Everyone calm down and make certain he is stable. I'm certain this is the last thing Mister Grigio wanted before he woke up."

The doctors paused, clearly ready to poke and prod every inch of Daniel's body once more. They conceded however, and limited themselves to simple pulse checks and blood sampling before filing out of the tightly packed room. Soon, the only people remaining were General Ironwood and a tan balding man in a white lab coat.

"I apologize for them Daniel," the General said. "Sometimes the members of the Aura research facility can get a bit excited."

"General, what, what's going on?" Daniel asked. "Is everything alright?"

General Ironwood looked over at the balding man, who tapped his glasses and cleared his throat. "After your operation Mister Grigio, which was a success I might add, it was decided to keep you under sedation for the day so that we could monitor how your body was accepting the implants. We were going to bring you out later this evening; however, your vitals suddenly spiked and your essentially forced yourself awake. We rushed in because, frankly, that is quite dangerous for the body."

"Fortunately, it appears that you are currently stable, and now have access to an Aura," General Ironwood added.

Wait, I do?" Daniel asked, checking himself. He didn't look any differently. He didn't  _feel_  any differently. Where was the protective field that everyone talked about?

"The implant itself is removable, save for the housing around it," the man said. We tested it while you were still unconscious, however we removed it soon thereafter to allow your body to safely adjust."

"The implant, what are you,  _ow ow ow, ow,_ " Daniel exclaimed as he tried to roll over again. His upper back was lit up with sharp pains; it felt almost as if something was stuck into it. The implant, apparently.

"Yes, that would be the implant, Mister Grigio," the man said. "It's a marvelous feat of engineering if I do say so myself. You see, it reroutes the signals normally traveling along your spine past the section we had to remove to make room for the implant, I would be more than happy to show you some-"

"Wait, you did WHAT to my spine?"

"Removed part of it. Between your third and fourth ribs actually."

Daniel craned his neck, trying to see what was on his back. Unfortunately, due to it being on his back, all he could see was a mass of gauze extending half an inch above his back.

"Would you like to see it Daniel?" General Ironwood asked.

"Yes, Yes!" Daniel said, nearly shouting.

"Then please hold still while I remove the bandages," the Doctor said. He moved over to Daniel and stuck something cold, large, and hard between the bandages and his skin. Daniel tensed up as the scissors cut through the gauze with some difficulty. He brushed the torn strips aside and pulled something free before pulling his scroll out and snapping a picture. He then held it in front of Daniel's face, allowing him to see it.

A circle of flesh had been cut out of his body, right over his spine. It went down deeper than what made Daniel comfortable before terminating in a sort of socket. The interior of the circle was lined with coils of wires that ran between the bottom and a lip right before the top.

"Now then young man, if that is all I do have some research I must attend to. We will be holding you here for a few more days, however you should be free to move about for the most part."

"Well Daniel, do you have any questions?" General Ironwood asked as the Doctor stood up and left. "How do you feel?"

"Feel?" Daniel said, struggling to control his breathing. He lifted his head up and gingerly turned himself around to face the General putting on a brave smile as he turned. "I feel, great!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel meets his not so new team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Decided to update today as opposed to this upcoming Monday as a result of the Monty Oum Project. For those of you who don't know, February first marks the day that Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, passed away. The Monty Oum project is a thing some fans take part in where they start creating something new on today. I didn't have anything new I'm working on that I can post today, but I do have TBH. I hope that you all enjoy the chapter, and remember to keep moving forward.

The next week for Daniel was not what he had expected.

He hadn’t planned on jumping out of the hospital bed and continue his training the day he woke up, but he had hoped for something more than more testing.  Instead, he found himself taking part in a week of tests and drills to see how his body reacted to the intensive procedure.  Weight lifting, reaction times, endurance tests, everything was checked and compared to scores he’d gotten while at Beacon.  Because of it, Daniel found himself laying down in a loaned bed every night, his body aching from the day’s workout.  And they still hadn’t even shown him how the artificial Aura even worked.

“We have to be certain that there aren’t any complications from the surgery,” one of the scientists told Daniel when he asked about all of the tests.  “General Ironwood has given us a week to be certain you are ready, and that’s not a lot of time to test the results of a new procedure.  If you ask me,” he added, “it’s nowhere near enough.” 

There were some differences, Daniel had noticed.  His back was slightly less flexible than it used to be, the slabs of metal making up the Aura generator and whatever had replaced part of his spine preventing him from twisting his back all the way.  It also made sleeping more difficult.  Daniel usually slept on his back, but the implants made this position too uncomfortable.  In the past couple of days, he found himself switching to a side or stomach position before falling asleep.

Despite this issues facing him, Daniel was getting tired of waiting.  He’d had too many problems recently because he couldn’t generate an Aura.  He wanted it in now.

On the sixth day of tests, his wish was granted. 

It was towards the end of the day.  Daniel was lying on his back, his body drenched in sweat after the set of crunches he’d just finished.  One of the scientists was watching him and clicked a stopwatch before recording his time on his clipboard.  “Six minutes and twenty seconds,” he announced.  “Not bad Mister Grigio, not bad at all.  You seem to be in good shape for someone who just had a spinal bypass” 

“That’s, good, I guess,” Daniel panted as he rolled over to his stomach and pushed himself onto his knees. 

The scientist handed Daniel a water bottle and a towel before walking over to a table and picking up a metal suitcase that had been sitting on top of it.  “Now then Mister Grigio, I understand that you have been waiting for this moment for some time.  Which is why General Ironwood has asked that I insert the Aura generator.” 

In an instant, all of Daniel’s exhaustion from the past couple of days were gone.  “Wait, really?” he asked as he jumped to his feet.

“We have no further testing, so yes,” the scientist said.  “Now, I need you to take off your shirt and lean over the table so I can install the battery.” 

Daniel did as the scientist directed, pulling the sweat drenched shirt off and bending over, putting his hands on the table for support.  The scientist pulled the plastic top off the implant before opening the suitcase.  Daniel turned his head to see him remove a cylinder-like object from inside and turn back to Daniel.  He slotted it into the generator, pushing Daniel down towards the table, as he twisted it until it clicked into place. 

“The system should begin powering up momentarily,” The scientist said.  “You should feel an increase in your energy when it starts up.  Tell me when that happens.” 

“Not yet,” Daniel said, frowning as he reached up and scratched the inside of his ear.  “I’m not feeling any, did it get quiet in here or, _holy_.” Daniel’s comment was drowned out as a surge of energy blasted over his being.  It was like drinking five cans of Rage and sticking a fork in an outlet all at the same time.  The energy washed over his body, down his limbs, and enclosed itself around his fingers and toes.  It felt like his body was entirely encased in a warm blanket.  A white noise he hadn’t noticed until now was erased, leaving him with what felt like heightened hearing.

“You feel it then?” the scientist asked, turning back towards the suitcase. 

“Yeah, this is, wow,” Daniel said, completely in awe of what was going on.  “Is this how huntsmen feel all the time?” 

“I can only assume,” the scientist said.  “Now then, if you aren’t overly exhausted, go take a shower and meet General Ironwood. He has asked that you meet him in his office in twenty minutes. He wishes to discuss your entrance into Atlas academy.  The generator is waterproof, so there is no need to cover it while in the shower.” 

“I’d better get going then,” Daniel said as he took off towards the showers. “He asked that you wear the Atlas uniform,” the scientist called out.  It was too late though.  Daniel had rounded the corner and was long gone. 

* * *

 

General Ironwood was behind his desk reviewing papers when Daniel arrived twenty-two minutes later.  He glanced up briefly as the door chime went off, letting out a brief “Enter,” before returning to his papers. The door slid open to reveal Daniel, wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt over his implant. 

“You wanted to see me sir?” he asked with a smile. 

General Ironwood glanced up at him.  “Yes, Mister Grigio, I did.  You will be pleased to hear your test results have come back fine.  It would appear that neither the generator or spinal bypass caused any, unexpected side effects.” 

“That’s good to hear sir,” Daniel said, “I was getting tired of all the tests.” 

“As I could imagine.  Tell me, did Doctor Bay put the generator in yet?” 

“He did sir,” Daniel answered, his smile getting even bigger.  “I think it’s working great. I haven’t felt like this in my life!” 

“Good,” General Ironwood said.  “Daniel, I have one final test for you before we continue.” 

“Oh,” Daniel said, deflating slightly.

“Just a small test,” General Ironwood assured him.  “One question only.  Do you trust me?”

The question surprised Daniel.  He hadn’t been asked if he trusted someone like General Ironwood before.  Before he had asked, Daniel could have easily said he trusted him; but now that whether or not he trusted him had been called into question, Daniel wondered if he should. 

“Do you trust me Daniel?” General Ironwood repeated sternly. 

“I guess?” Daniel said apprehensively. 

“That’s not an answer.  Do you trust me.” 

“Ah, yes.  Yes sir!” Daniel said. 

“Thank you,” General Ironwood said before raising a massive revolver from underneath his desk and firing three shots into Daniel’s chest. 

The heavy bullets slammed into Daniel and threw him backwards into the wall.  There was a crunching sound as the wall buckled under the collision, and Daniel slid down to the floor, dazed.  Daniel’s hands shot towards where the bullets had struck, only to find that he was unharmed.  Not that it didn’t hurt; the last time he’d felt this bad he’d taken a glancing axe blow to his chest.  Unlike that time however, there was no blood to be seen. 

“You shot me?” was all Daniel could get out.  He hadn’t expected anything like that to happen, and  

“Obviously,” General Ironwood said as he opened his revolver cylinder and began extracting the spent casings.  “I imagine that hurt quite a lot.” 

“Yeah, it did!”  Daniel replied.  “I mean, not as much as it should, I think, but it hurt!” 

“Good,” General Ironwood said.  He stood up from his desk and walked around to kneel next to Daniel.  “The first round was to test your aura, but the next two were for being late and out of uniform.  If you’re going to become a huntsman, then the special considerations end here. You now have an Aura, and you are now one of my students.  You will be treated as such, and you will treat me as such.  Is that clear cadet?” 

“I, yes sir!” Daniel stammered, trying to wrap his head around the sudden change in Ironwood’s personality. 

“Good,” General Ironwood replied.  He stood up and walked back around his desk and sat down.  “Now stand at attention cadet.  Normally I’d send you to your bunk to change into uniform, but my schedule is full and I don’t have time to wait for you.”  He glanced up at Daniel from his revolver and snapped the cylinder back into place with a flick of his wrist.  “That was an order cadet.” 

Daniel scrambled to his feet, desperate to avoid further shots.  He snapped to attention upon regaining his footing, and pulled his right hand into a salute. 

“At ease cadet.  Now then, I’m going to introduce you to the senior team that will be getting you up to speed by the end of next semester, at which point you will join the rest of next year’s class and be assigned a team.  Understood?” 

“Yes sir General!” 

“Good.”  Ironwood reached over and pressed a button on his desk.  “Send in team Grey please.” 

Daniel turned in surprise to see the door open to admit Greeve, Rojoe, Ebon, and Yarrow, the four Atlesian Huntsmen-in-training that he’d encountered several weeks ago.  The four of them came to a halt next to Daniel and snapped off salutes to the General as well.  “You wanted to see us sir?” Greeve asked. 

“Yes Greeve.  This is Daniel Grigio.  He is the student I want the four of you to mentor for the remainder of this semester and the next.  Has your team read the briefing?” 

“We have memorized your briefing sir, and are confident in our ability to carry out your orders!” 

“Good,” General Ironwood said.  “With your skills in Dust, and mister Sapphire’s recent focus on biomechanics, your team is the best prepared to assist mister Grigio with his implant, should the need arise.” 

“It won’t be a problem sir!” 

“Very well, I’ll leave the five of you to get acquainted.  Dismissed.” 

Team Grey turned and filed out of the room in military precision that Daniel tried to emulate.  The team continued along this way until they had rounded a corner and were out of sight of General Ironwood’s door.  They then stopped and turned around to face Daniel.  The sight of four upperclassmen in imposing military dress stopped Daniel dead in his tracks. 

“So,” Daniel began, “It’s been a while.  Good to see you guys again.” 

Greeve didn’t say anything, but instead continued to glare at Daniel, seeming to size the younger teenager up.  To his side, Rojoe shot Daniel an apologetic look. 

“I guess you guys are going to be training me then.  Kind of, ironic don’t you think?” The deafening silence continued.  The only reaction that Greeve showed was the slight raising of his eyebrows.

Realizing that his attempt at conversation wasn’t going to work, Daniel took a deep breath and changed tactic.  “Okay, look; I am really sorry for what happened in Vale.  That got out of hand really quickly” 

“Your actions cost us weeks of planning, and execution” Greeve said, finally breaking his silence. 

“Well, maybe, but I had no idea!”  Daniel said.  “I didn’t know any of this would happen, especially training with you guys!” 

“The same can be said for us then,” Greeve said. 

“Oh, come on Greeve, you didn’t have your suspicions?” Yarrow asked.  “Rojoe rushes into the briefing, tells us first thing that she met one of the guys we fought and that he doesn’t have an Aura, and suddenly we get a briefing to train one guy and that it required our two very specific skill sets to maintain a piece of tech he’d be wearing, and none of that tipped you off? Which reminds me, Ro told me about what happened, sorry for hitting you,” he added, glancing at Daniel and giving him an apologetic look. 

“I didn’t consider it until after I read the briefing,” Greeve replied.  

“Whatever, Ebon still owes me twenty Lien.  Pay up Agent Flaming Hoops.” 

“You made that bet after we got the briefing, I’m not paying you jack,” Ebon replied, crossing his arms like Greeve had. 

“Why you no good double crossing-” 

“Boys!” Rojoe said loudly, “Maybe we should focus on the situation at hand?  Like what are we going to do with Daniel?” 

“We do as we’re ordered,” Greeve answered.  “General Ironwood wants Daniel ready for initiation in two semesters, and we’re going to make certain he is.” “Duh you two, that was kind of obvious,” Yarrow commented.  “Disobeying an order from the leader of the largest military on the planet isn’t the best career move.  Especially if he’s our headmaster, and probably our boss in a year or so.” 

“No, what I meant was what are we going to do with him on missions?” Rojoe said.  “We can’t take him on most of our missions, he’s too inexperienced!  No offense,” she added. “It’s fine,” Daniel said, “It’s not like I’ve got a good track record anyways.” 

“Wellllllll, you did take on a professor at your school,” Yarrow said.  “That’s something at least.” 

“We will make that decision on a mission to mission basis,” Greeve said with finality. “Right now, Daniel needs to get into uniform, and we need to help him move in.” 

* * *

 

After picking up Daniel’s backpack from the room he’d been in since the operation, the five of them took a quick jaunt through an ice cold courtyard, up a concrete staircase, and through a hallway filled with doors and the occasional student to finally arrive at their dorm. The interior was noticeably different from that of the dormitories at Beacon.  The floor was covered in a dark gray tile with the walls being painted in a slightly lighter shade.  Four immaculately made beds lined the back wall underneath a window looking out into the courtyard.  The overall color scheme seemed to be in shades of gray, with the exceptions being a large chalkboard with complex mathematical equations written on it, a poster for a boyband Daniel had heard was doing an international tour, and a table with vials and crystals of Dust interspaced on the surface with explosion marks.  A violin sat on one of the beds, its bow laying across it. 

“Welcome to casa del grupo grey!” Yarrow exclaimed.  “Bathrooms are down the hall, emergency fire extinguishers are an added feature, and complimentary flea preventions once every twelve weeks.” 

“You know that one day someone is going to hear that and take it the wrong way, right?” Ebon asked. 

“Which is why I kept my best material to myself during that White Fang op,” Yarrow replied. 

“You guys fought the White Fang?” Daniel asked. 

“Yeah, we were in Vale trying to find those two that your old team fought a few weeks ago. Vale police found one of their hideouts, and asked us to tag along for the added manpower,” Yarrow bragged.  “We had to hide Ebon’s tail since the Fang has it out for Faunus that fight them, but it was no biggie.” 

“Okay Yarrow,” Rojoe interrupted, “Inflate your already massive ego sometime later.  For now, how about we help Daniel unpack his things.” 

“There’s a problem with that Ro,” Ebon said.  “I’m no Dust prodigy, or whatever the hell Yarrow is-” 

“Hey!” 

“But I do know there’s no room for another bed.  Not in our dorm.” 

“He’s right,” Greeve said.  “The table takes up the one available space we have.” 

Yarrow put his fingers into a rectangle and held them up to one eye, picturing the room. “Bunk beds and a hammock,” he said after a moment. 

“Say what?” Rojoe asked. 

“Bunk beds and a hammock,” Yarrow repeated.  We loft the beds with some four-by-fours, and string a hammock diagonally between the two.  Everyone gets a place to sleep, we free up more floor space, and Daniel doesn’t have to learn how to make a bed military style.” 

Ebon and Greeve both turned to look at the beds and ponder Yarrow’s idea.  Occasionally, Greeve would count on his fingers, as if doing some sort of mental math. 

“That, could work,” Ebon mused.  Assuming of course that we can get some wood to loft the beds. And a hammock.” 

“Not a problem,” Yarrow said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them.  “So it’s settled then?  Greeve and Ro take the left bunks, Ebon and I take the right?” 

“Um… Well… I suppose,” Rojoe said, suddenly a bit flustered. 

“It’s settled,” Greeve answered.  Ebon and I will go find the wood; Yarrow, you find a way to connect the wood to the two beds.” 

“Greeve, you’re talking to the guy who has access to both the student labs and the non-student labs,” Yarrow said.  “All I need is fifteen minutes on a milling machine, some metal bits, and a power drill.  Worst case scenario, I pull out a saw and screwdriver.” 

“Good.  Ro, you stay with Daniel,” Greeve instructed.  “Help him unpack, and try to get a hammock from the quartermaster.” 

“I, yes sir!” Rojoe said, snapping into focus. 

“And one more thing.  Yarrow, if you will.” 

Yarrow reached into his uniform pocket and withdrew a scroll.  “New Scroll,” Yarrow said as he held it up for Daniel to see.  “Latest model, all the bells and whistles, yadda yadda yadda, also one of the few phones that can do this.”  Yarrow tapped on the screen, and Daniel gasped, feeling as if the wind was rushing out of him.  The feeling of power, the energy that had been flowing through him since the generator had been slotted in, was gone.  And with it came the quiet white noise he’d just gotten used to not having. 

“Sorry about that, but you can’t exactly recharge like the rest of us,” Yarrow explained. The battery lasts 48 hours cycling, or a couple minutes in a fight, so you’re only supposed to turn it on when you need it.” 

“That’s not a lot of time,” Daniel said, slightly concerned.  “What happens if I run out of it?”

“Same as the rest of us; you fight without it,” Ebon said.

Yarrow patted Daniel on the back reassuringly.  “I wouldn’t think too much into it. Greeve’s got the best Aura between the four of us, and he still lasted less than a minute in the Vytal festival finals last year.” 

“Don’t you all have jobs to do?” Greeve asked. 

“You mean use a milling machine to mill some wood no one has gotten for me yet?” Yarrow inquired innocently as he reached into a pocket and brought out a carton of cigarettes, opening it up and knocking one out.  “No, not really.  More of a waiting game at this point.”  He had the cigarette in his mouth and was fishing for a lighter when he caught the look on Greeve’s face.  Very slowly, he pulled his hands out of his pocket and removed it from his mouth.  “Ah, your new no smoking rule.  I should probably take this outside then, keep it away from any fire dust.” 

Greeve’s frown deepened, unamused by Yarrow’s comment. 

“Right, right,” Yarrow said.  “I’m leaving.”  He threw a bright yellow lab coat over his uniform and sauntered out of the room and into the hallway.  Greeve and Ebon followed suit a moment later, leaving Rojoe and Daniel alone in the dormitory. 

“Looks like it’s just you and me then,” Daniel said.  He glanced around the room, scanning it for a place he could put the meager number of personal belongings.  “Uh, where should I put my stuff?” 

“Uniform and long sleeves go in the closet, the rest of your clothes go in the top drawer,” Rojoe said as she went to the violin sitting on one of the beds and picked it up.

“Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll need the closet,” Daniel said.  He unzipped his backpack and started pulling out the changes of clothes he’d brought with him to Atlas.  Between the clothes that he’d lost fighting Glas, mock fights with his old team and LSTR, and his fight against team GREY, many of the clothes that he’d bought months ago with Tiberius’ Lien were ruined beyond repair.  All he had left were two pairs of jeans, a couple of shirts, and half a dozen pairs of socks and underwear. 

Ro was put the bow to the string and was about to being playing when she saw Daniel zip his backpack up.  “Is that it?” Rojoe asked in astonishment.  “No boots or anything?  Not even have a jacket?” 

“I _had_ a jean jacket,” Daniel answered with a sigh.  “But then Yarrow hit me in the chest with an axe.  Not something you can really sew back together.” 

Rojoe stared at Daniel for a moment, still in shock, before pulling out her scroll and hitting a number on speed dial.  “Yarrow?  It’s Rojoe.  Go out and get Daniel some cold weather gear and a coat, you owe him one.  Yes, you.  Why?  Try when you hit him in the chest with your weapon!  I don’t know,” she said, glancing over at Daniel, “he’s about Ebon’s height.  No you’re not stealing one of his and giving it to Daniel, go and get one!”  

Rojoe ended the call and let out a huge sigh.  “Honestly, why do I even bother with these idiots.  I’m not even the leader, Greeve is.  So why do I always have to deal with Yarrow?  It’s like he wants to be beaten up by everyone, and I have to make sure he doesn’t.  If Greeve wasn’t so-,” 

Rojoe paused in mid rant, abruptly and acutely aware that Daniel was not only still in the room, but had also paused the folding of his clothes and putting them into the drawer he’d been pointed to.  

“You didn’t have to do that for me,” Daniel protested.  “I could’ve gotten by.” 

Rojoe shook her head.  “You’re five foot eleven, maybe a hundred and sixty pounds,” she said.  “You would freeze to death before winter even sets in.” 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Daniel said sarcastically

“Besides, despite our rocky meeting, you’re part of our team now,” Rojoe added.

“So, no hard feelings then?” Daniel asked.  “Not even when Lunare knocked Greeve into the sky?” 

“Oh, Greeve rarely takes things personally,” Rojoe answered.  “To him, everything in a mission is just business.  I doubt he’d even try to get even with him if they ever met.  You all did come out on the losing side after all.” 

Daniel paused in his folding of laundry.  “Didn’t we send you guys running in the end?” 

Rojoe put her hands on her hips.  “Only because our targets escaped and we had to chase after them.  You want to see how we fight for real?  Rest up and be ready tomorrow, your training starts at O-five hundred.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunare discusses the two joined teams with LSTR, while Daniel adjusts to his new school and teammates.

"So, to be clear, the seven of you are not having any problems integrating?" Professor Ozpin asked.

"Not in the least sir," Lunare answered. "As you correctly assumed, team Dandelion and my own have been able to continue our successful working relationship. Beyond missing a member, team Lustered Lion is performing optimally."

Professor Ozpin nodded and made a note upon his scroll. The two of them were seated on opposite sides of Ozpin's desk, both drinking from mugs of steaming coffee. While Professor Ozpin typed on his scroll, Lunare's hands gained a mind of their own and slipped into his pockets. Within seconds, he was absentmindedly tinkering with one of his Aural Disruptors, steadily taking it apart piece by piece.

"That is good to hear," Professor Ozpin said. "Although that does bring me to my next question. How are the members of your team doing with the recent changes?"

Lunare paused his disassembly, seemingly snapping out of a trance. "My original team is adjusting fairly well," he said after a brief moment of consideration. It's good that we were able to remain in our own rooms, although having people walk in between ours and the old Dandelion dorm is admittedly annoying," he added with a bit of a forced chuckle.

"Lunare," Professor Ozpin said, "How is your team coping with Daniel's absence?"

Lunare took several moments to compose thoughts before taking a deep breath and answering. "It has not been easy," he said. "My team is upset and understandably misses him, but what they feel is tame when compared to how team Dandelion is fairing. They feel how we feel and more so, even if they do not always show it. In my opinion, I cannot blame them," he added as an afterthought.

"In your opinion?" Professor Ozpin prompted.

Lunare stirred uncomfortably, searching for the words to the question he wished hadn't been raised. Wishing he hadn't opened his mouth, Lunare steeled himself and explained himself. "After everything that they have done for him, Daniel left them when they least expected it. It didn't help that he made his decision right after the incident with the assailant, which I believe they view as a, knee-jerk reaction," he said.

"Have there been any violent outbursts?"

Lunare looked around the room nervously before speaking up to answer the question. "Lewis has his… own methods that seem to be working in his favor. Dakota," Lunare took a deep breath before choosing his next words carefully, "Dakota has been, fighting outside of class."

"Fighting?" Professor Ozpin inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes sir. You have probably read the reports, he spars with other students after class."

"Indeed," Professor Ozpin said. "I've seen his detention slips, he has been pushing himself rather hard, hasn't he? See to it that he doesn't push himself too hard, or anyone else for that matter."

Lunare nodded and glanced back down at his Aural Disruptor.

"And what about Nicholas Ochre?" Professor Ozpin asked. "You have neglected to mention him at all today."

"I'm afraid that Nick's emotions are unknown to me," Lunare admitted. "Dakota and Lewis' emotions can be seen physically relatively easily, but Nick keeps much of his emotions to himself. I'm afraid I can't tell you what he thinks, beyond disappointment."

"Indeed," Professor Ozpin said. "Thank you Mister Nacht, I think that will be all. Please let me know if Mister Harding goes to far, or if Mister Lemon's compensating becomes any more serious."

"Of course, sir," Lunare said, finishing his tea and standing up, shoving the disassembled Aural Disruptor into his pocket. "Is there anything that I can tell team Lustered Lion about Daniel?" he inquired.

"I have been told that he recovered well from the operation, and is undergoing tests to see how he has been affected by it," Professor Ozpin answered. "And as promised, I will continue to keep your team informed of any information I am given.

Lunare nodded and turned to leave, but Professor Ozpin wasn't done speaking. "However, you must understand that Daniel is no longer a student at Beacon. As such, there are not many reasons for General Ironwood to keep the headmaster of another school informed on a single student, no matter how interesting that student may be."

Lunare nodded. "I understand sir," he said. "I suppose then that the only thing to do is to wait and see."

* * *

The sound of a bugle over a loud speaker pulled Daniel from what had until that point been a comfortable slumber. Groaning, he tried to roll out of his bed, only for it to shake and swing underneath him. Daniel uttered a cry of alarm and began flailing as the adrenaline shot through his system. The swinging worsened, and Daniel was thrown from his hammock and landed on the floor below.

"Good morrow to you," Yarrow said brightly as he slung down from his bunk bed. I see you're quick enough to rise, that's quite the good trait for life in the military."

"Wait, what's going on?" Daniel asked blearily as the day before came back to him. The building of the hammock, the trip to the quartermaster for clothes, and the warning from Greeve before lights out that Atlas had their huntsmen teams wake up at an early hour. A glance out the window to see the sun not even up yet confirmed the warning.

Around Daniel, team GREY was working like a well-oiled machine, getting out of their sleep-wear and pulling on gray sweatpants and shirts.

"Morning calisthenics," Greeve explained as he grabbed Daniel under an arm and hauled him up. "We're out the door in two minutes, come on!"

Daniel turned around and immediately ran into his twisted hammock. He stumbled and would've fallen had Greeve not grabbed him once more to steady him.

"Roll your hammock up and stow it in the bag," he instructed Daniel as he unhooked the hammock from one bunk bed and handed it to Daniel. "It's taking up room it doesn't have to."

Daniel did as he was instructed, roughly jamming the hammock into the bag attached to its side. He then rushed over to the drawers he'd been instructed to put his clothes into and began searching desperately for his exercise clothes, which he had haphazardly stuck into the drawers with all his other clothes the night before.

"Thirty seconds Grigio!"

"I'm trying I'm trying!" Daniel yelled back as he finally extracted what he was looking for from underneath a pile of underwear and socks. Casting off his pajamas, he pulled the clothes on, grabbed a pair of socks, and began searching for his shoes. He searched frantically until they were tossed in front of him by Ebon, who'd found them underneath his own bed.

"We'll be working on your organizational skills later, for now we're going for a run," Greeve said as Daniel tied his shoes on. "Fifteen laps around the courtyard people, let's go!"

"Fifteen laps, but it's got to be twenty degrees out there!" Daniel said.

"Mmmm, more like negative twenty, at this hour," Yarrow said cheerfully. "Nothing like a brisk run in the arctic weather to get your blood flowing, eh Daniel?"

* * *

As Lunare reentered the room, Schatten looked up from a newspaper he was reading on his bed. "What's the word boss?" he asked.

"Daniel is responding well to the operation and is already on his feet," Lunare answered as he sat down at his workbench. "Although Professor Ozpin has hinted that we will have to use alternate methods to gain updates from this point forward."

"Right. Coffee cans and yarn then?"

"Indeed," at the dump looking for wood to build his rooftop garden," Schatten said, adding air quotes around 'rooftop garden', "Tiberius is having his weekly fight with the local dry cleaner, and Lewis and Nick are helping Dakota blow off some steam. Oh, and your guy called; said that if you can wait until next week for more cans of Rage that he can get you three cases of 'limited edition' grape flavored cans."

Usually, a shipment of banned energy drinks being delayed would be brought to the forefront of Lunare's attention. However, Dakota had taken to blowing off steam nearly every day since Daniel left. So far, he'd landed four other students in the medical center for everything from burns, sprains, to dislocated shoulders and racked up a week's worth of detention for his troubles. In all likelihood, Lewis and Nick had gone not to spar with their teammate, but to keep him from hurting his opponent too bad.

"This late?" Lunare asked. "Normally they would have returned by now."

"Goodwitch banned him from fighting other students without supervision," Schatten said. "He's going to some sort of fighting ring he knows about."

"We have got to do something about Dakota," Lunare said as he put down the disassembled Aural Disruptor he hadn't even realized he'd taken out of his pocket. "If he keeps this up, he could be expelled."

Schatten looked up from his paper once more. "Some days I think that he wants to be. You're right though, we've got to get his mind off of Daniel."

"I will take Lewis and Nick aside when they return," Lunare said. "Perhaps a night on the town might improve their moods?"

"Worth a shot," Schatten said.

The two of them were distracted from their conversation by a commotion at the door. Two people were arguing vigorously as they walked in their direction. Schatten and Lunare glanced at each other, both recognizing the voices and prepared for what was about to come next.

"I have had it up to here with your outrageous antics!" Tiberius shouted as he and Ryler barged through the door. "You are absolutely infested with bugs and termites from your trip to the dump! Look, there's one in your hair right now!"

"I told you Ty, this is all about sustainability!" Ryler shouted back. "If I go to the hardware store, I'll be violating the spirit of this endeavor!"

"And so you skipped any other alternative and went straight to the trash? I could have named a dozen places you could have gotten your wood! You insufferable little  _ow!_ "

Tiberius' exclamation of pain came from the rolled up newspaper hitting him in the head. Schatten had rolled his up and stormed over to hit them both with a resounding  _thwack_.

"Thank you for that Schatten; Ryler, go get in the shower," Lunare instructed. "Tiberius, you do have a point-"

"Hah!" Tiberius said triumphantly.

"-But Ryler was simply working on a side project. I'm certain he was on his way back here to clean off."

"Well actually Lunare," Ryler began, only to falter as Lunare shot him a look. "That is, exactly what I was going to do! This grime is absolutely dulling my clothes, and that just won't do!" Gingerly, he stepped around Tiberius and made his way towards the bathroom, grabbing his toiletries as he went.

"Hang on, did he really have bugs in him?" Schatten asked Tiberius as the door to the bathroom closed shut.

"Yes, and they were massive!" Tiberius said. "Their maggots were as thick as beans!"

Schatten sighed. "Well, there goes the dorm room," he strode over to his bed and grabbed his scroll from the covers. "Lunare, I'm going to go get some bug killer spray, you build a roach killing robot or something."

Tiberius huffed as Schatten closed the door behind him. Lunare turned around to look at him. "Is there anything you would like to say.

"Well, I did pick up the mail before encountering Ryler," Tiberius said as he reached into his suit and pulled out a letter. "It's for you I believe.

"Really? Who is it from?" Lunare asked.

"I don't know," Tiberius said huffily, "There's no return address and I'm not a detective. "But the postage does say Atlesian Air."

Lunare took the letter and opened it, briefly scanning it. His eyes widened in shock and he went back to read it more thoroughly. The paper crumpled in his clenched hands as they shook with outrage.

"We're canceling our order of your Aural Disruptors as they're labeled Class Four 'Huntsmen Killers'? Please cease production immediately and turn over all blueprints for confiscation?" he read out loud. "How dare they!"

He shoved the paper into one of his jacket pockets and stood up abruptly. "Tiberius, hold down the room until Schatten returns, I have a phone call to make."

Tiberius opened his mouth to protest, but Lunare was already out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

"Certainly," Tiberius sighed. "Leave me, alone, in the room with the teammate I despise the most. What an incredibly bright idea Lunare."

From the bathroom, there came the sound of a bottle falling to the ground followed by Ryler's yell. "Ty!" he called, "I think I accidentally spilled your shampoo!"

All Tiberius could do was place his head in his hands and groan quietly to himself.

* * *

All Daniel could do was collapse to the icy ground, groaning and gasping for air. Fifteen laps had turned into twenty as Greeve seemed to get a second wind halfway through the tenth. With two more laps to go, Daniel couldn't go any further. Greeve paused on the nineteenth lap to scowl at Daniel before motioning for Ebon and Rojoe to carry Daniel inside.

"You get a break today Grigio, but tomorrow I expect you to finish the run!" he called out as the doors shut behind Daniel.

"Take it easy, deep breaths," Rojoe instructed as she and Ebon guided Daniel to a bench and sat him down. Ebon disappeared for a moment and returned with a paper cup of water which Daniel accepted and drank greedily. "It looks like the operation took more out of you than we thought."

"No… never had to… exercise this long at, Beacon." Daniel panted out.

"Really?" Ebon asked. "Then how the hell did that guy from Vale knock Greeve out last year?"

Daniel shrugged and stood up carefully to go and get more water. As the cup filled from the fountain, the door they'd come through burst open. A gust of icy wind announced the arrival of Greeve and Yarrow.

"Breaks over you three, Showers and then mess hall!"

"Joy. Lukewarm oats and powdered cereal?" Ebon asked.

Yarrow clapped his teammate on the shoulder. "Ebon my man; you know that they don't serve the same thing twice in a row! I'm betting today is yellow and runny bacon, and brown and crunchy eggs!"

As it turned out, neither of them was right. When they got to the cafeteria after showering in lukewarm water and changing into the light gray uniforms of Atlas Academy, their trays were loaded with plain bagels that had been undertoasted, and an assortment of butter and jam packets. Ebon grabbed a bunch of bananas from a table as they passed by on their way to a table the four older students seemed all too familiar with. They sat down as Ebon broke the bandanna bunch apart so everyone could have one, and Greeve pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.

"Our new schedule," he read aloud. "O-five-hundred, bugle and morning calisthenics. O-five-thirty, breakfast. The rest of the day until twelve-hundred will be year one classes on history and basic tactics, I assume the four of us remember them well enough to teach."

Daniel looked up from his bagel. "So you guys are teaching me in the mornings and having your own classes in the afternoon?"

"No, at thirteen-hundred hours we have combat practice," Greeve said. "We'll practice for three hours, and then spend the rest of the time until dinner at eighteen hundred hours reviewing the day's lessons."

"But, aren't you guys students?" Daniel asked confused.

"Yeah, but we're seniors," Ebon said. "Atlas does things a bit differently. Most of us finished pretty much all our classes last semester so we've got time to do that whole student teacher thing. We'd still be taking a couple classes though if some sophomore hadn't decided we should cram our semesters and get everything done by the end of our junior."

"And look how it paid off," Greeve said remorselessly. "We've gone on multiple missions this semester and gotten more real world experience than any of the other teams."

"Don't listen to him Daniel, it's actually been pretty boring," Yarrow said. "I haven't had this much down time in a semester since that stakeout mission. Remember that one Ebon? The circus with the hoops and the fire, and the trapeze dance number?"

Ebon's lowered down to his waistband. "Yes Yarrow, I do," he said through gritted teeth. "And do you remember what I told you after it was over?"

"Yarrow, don't," Rojoe warned as Yarrow opened his mouth to further antagonize his teammate. "Greeve, weren't you telling me earlier that the increased course load would be a good stepping stone for what we'll have to do with Daniel."

"Say what now?" Daniel asked. "why is it a stepping stone?"

"We have less than six months to train you Daniel," Greeve said. "Under a normal accelerated schedule, that is barely enough to get someone to what a freshman should know coming in. What we're going to do is to get you more experience than what most incoming freshmen could ever hope for. Next Vytal Festival, you and your team will be taking the gold medals."

* * *

"Come on you oversized meatheads!" Dakota yelled out at the ring. "I got a better workout from fighting my professor to the death! And I didn't even throw a punch!"

At his feet, Dakota's latest opponent groaned weakly as he dragged himself to the sidelines. When Dakota had thrown open the doors to the underground fighting ring and placed himself as a contestant, most of the fighters had assumed that he'd be an easy win. He was stocky to be sure, but he was just a teenager, whereas they'd been fighting in the ring for years. Even though he had unlocked his Aura, that was nothing unusual down here. Dirty Huntsmen and expelled students were some of the regulars here. If they'd paid attention to the dark look in his eye, perhaps they would've thought twice before jumping in with him.

"This is gettin' down right nasty," Nick leaned over and whispered to Lewis. "Might have to intervene 'fore he gets in real trouble."

Back in the ring, Dakota was still circling, calling the other fighters every ugly name under the sun. The surrounding audience had a mixture of deep irritation and general concern on their faces. If no one stepped up soon enough, the raging kid in the ring might be obligated to choose one of them to fight. And right now, no one wanted to fight Dakota.

"Give him a bit more time man," Lewis said. "Let him tire himself, then we can take him home with us.

"I reckon he's tuckered out as it is," Nick said, glancing at Dakota. Their teammate was panting hard as he wiped sweat from his brow as he swayed in the middle of the ring. Nick had also noticed in his last two fights that Dakota's attacks were becoming sloppier than usual.

"Yeah, well, this is his twenty-fourth fight, and I bet fifty Lien he'd last twenty-five." Lewis said.

Nick looked at his friend with disappointment. "Lewis," he said. "You didn't-"

"You! I want to fight you!"

All eyes turned to the man that Dakota was pointing at. Immediately, everyone knew that this would be an unfair fight. The man in question was a few inches taller than Dakota, but was scrawny; as thin as a wire. As he nervously took off his wire rim glasses and stepped into the ring, Nick couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. This wouldn't be a fight, it would be a massacre.

"That's it, we got to stop him now," Nick rasped.

"Too late man," Lewis said. "It's about to start."

"The hell we can't," Nick began to say when from the ring, the bell tolled out. Lewis was right; it was too late.

As predicted, the fight was over before it even began. The bell hadn't finished ringing through the building, when the unwilling contestant took a hit directly to his face. Backpedaling, he retaliated with a right jab which Dakota sidestepped before delivering a left jab of his own. As the man stumbled backwards, Dakota slammed his fists into the sides of the man's head. As the man began to scream in pain, Dakota brought the it all to an end by delivering a kick to the man's sternum that sent him flying backwards into the ropes. As he hung onto the ropes like wet laundry on a line, he wearily raised his hand, signaling the end of the fight. In all, the fight had been the shortest; running at less than ten seconds.

"Well? Who's next?" Dakota shouted out as the crowd booed the teenager and helped the injured man out of the ring. Dakota had crossed the line, and they'd had enough of him.

"Now," Nick said.

"Now," Lewis agreed.

"I'll take you on!" a man shouted from the back.

"Damn," Nick muttered as the crowd parted to reveal a mountain of a Faunus with bull horns. Easily a foot taller than Dakota with biceps thicker than his skull. On a good day Dakota wouldn't even stand a chance. Maybe if he was well rested and weapons were allowed in the ring, things might be different. But right now, his opponent would clean the ring floor with him; if Dakota didn't collapse from exhaustion first.

"Bring it!" Dakota shouted. "I'll, I'll take you out in under a minute you lardball!"

The most definitely not lardball of a man grinned menacingly as he flexed his chest muscles, ripping his shirt apart at the seams.

"He just signed his own death warrant," Nick said. "Lewis, we got to save him."

"But how man?" Lewis asked. "He just accepted, we can't stop him now."

"You're right, but I got us a plan," Nick said. "Lewis, I'm gonna need a favor from you."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Next one is going to be a long read, around 10,000 words or so. Unfortunately, once it drops next month it's going to be the last chapter for a while. I've had to make the tough decision to put To Be Human on a temporary hiatus. When I start releasing stories to the internet, I do so at a point where I think I can keep up with writing new chapters so I don't have to go on hiatus. Unfortunately, life loves to throw little speed bumps your way, and I haven't been able to keep up. I promise to return to regular monthly updates as soon as I am confident I'm not going to go on hiatus again in Book 2, but as of now I don't have an exact date. Maybe towards the later part of this year I'll be able to make that call.
> 
> But hey, there's still one more chapter between now and the hiatus, so don't worry too much! See you all in a month!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel learns what Team GREY combat practice is, and Dakota experiences a Lewis and Nick favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting this. Classes caught up to me and a friend whose been gracious enough to look over the chapters for any errors. I didn't get the revisions done until late last night, and at that point it was better just to wait until the next day. As I've mentioned last chapter, this is the last chapter before I put the story on temporary hiatus. I've already got more chapters waiting to be published, I just want to get a good backlog ready before I return to our regularly scheduled updates. If it's any consolation, this chapter is over 11,000 words long; easily the largest chapter I've ever written.
> 
> So without further adieu, enjoy!

"You know, when you said we'd be doing combat practice, this isn't what I thought you meant!" Daniel shouted over the roaring wind.

The five of them were standing on the top of an Atlesian airship cruising over a snow-covered forest. The four older students stood upright, despite the ship going at flanking speeds. Daniel on the other hand was much more cautious, and was crouched down to hold on to a tie off mounted on the deck. The icy wind cut through the light gray parka he had been issued by the quartermaster, chilling him to the bone and making his teeth chatter. Snowflakes whipped into his exposed face, stinging his cheeks and turning his nose numb. Wincing at every strike, Daniel pulled his balaclava up over his nose and readjusted a pair of orange goggles to seal his face from the icy storm. It was good that his generator sat in his back rather than his front. He could only imagine how the already cold metal would feel like on his surrounding skin when it was also hit with the winds he was experiencing.

"What did you expect?" Ebon yelled to Daniel. "Fighting each other in a circle until someone's aura is depleted? That's sparring, not combat practice!"

"Yeah! Besides, you've only fought Grimm once! Yarrow added. "You've been missing out on the best part of being a huntsman! Guilt free genocide!"

"All right, listen up!" Greeve shouted back to them. We're a minute from the drop point. When I give the signal, jump off! As soon as everyone arrives at checkpoint alpha, we'll start clearing this sector! You will probably encounter Grimm on your way, so be prepared to defend yourselves! Is everyone's communications working?"

"Online Greeve," Rojoe's voice said over an earpiece in Daniel's right ear. "Grayed two standing by."

"Grayed Three standing by," Ebon replied.

"I don't know why we weren't using these up until now, it would save our voices-"

"Yarrow!" Rojoe shouted over the comms.

"Fine, fine. Gray fou- sorry grayed four standing by."

Temporarily letting go of his tie down, Daniel pulled his balaclava back down with one hand and pressed his earpiece with his other. "Gray five, standing by."

"Thirty seconds to the drop point," Greeve said. "Daniel, I want you to go right after me. The rest of you go by our usual pattern. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I don't think what I did the last time I was falling will work here," Daniel said as he fruitlessly scanned the forest for vines to grab on to. "Do any of you have some pointers?"

"Your Aura should cushion most of your fall," Ebon said. "Try to aim for a snow drift, but avoid the trees at all cost. Their branches are too small to hold your weight. When you land, tuck and-"

There was a beeping sound in their earpieces, sending team GREY into action. Greeve took a running start and leapt off the airships deck. As he fell, he summoned a portal beneath himself and disappeared into it. Daniel let go of his tie down and began running as well, determined to jump before his mind revolted at how crazy the idea was.

"Watch where you're jumping, watch where you're jumping!" Ebon warned.

Too late, Daniel's momentum carried him off the edge of the airship and in to the open air. As soon as his feet left the airship, Daniel saw what Ebon was warning about. A thick patch of trees rushed up towards Daniel, their branches and green needles becoming larger with each passing second.

Daniel screamed as he fell into the patch of trees. They obscured his entire vision, scratched his face with their needles, and slammed into his chest. Then his vision went completely dark, and Daniel saw no more.

At least until he pulled his head out of the snow bank. His vision was part yellow, part clear, and mostly obscured by his crooked goggles. Shaking his head free of clinging snow, Daniel pulled his goggles off long enough to shake the snow out of them and pull them back over his eyes. There were several hard rods laying underneath Daniel, and he looked down to see a bedding of freshly cut tree branches underneath him. Daniel looked up to see where they'd come from, and in doing so saw the carnage he had wrought.

The trees he had collided with were had been nearly entirely stripped of their branches in a Daniel sized hole. Their jagged ends glistened with the beginnings of sap drops. There was no way he could have survived that if he didn't have an Aura.

As Daniel viewed the carnage, he heard a commotion off in the distance. It sounded like several somethings running in his direction. In an instant, Danie's breathing quickened as he went on alert. He was in a Grimm infested area, separated from the rest of his team, and had probably attracted every Grimm in the near vicinity with his fall. He reached for his sword, but to his horror found that it had been knocked from its sheath. Desperately, he scanned the area for it, but was unable to locate it. As the sounds of footsteps got ever closer, he abandoned his search and instead yanked up one of the branches underneath his feet and pulled his pistol out. He cocked it, and the metallic sound seemed to alert whatever was making the footsteps as they quickened their pace. A shape appeared between the branches, running towards his tree grove.

Daniel waited until they were right outside his grove when he let out a war cry and burst out from the trees, swinging his impromptu weapon down at an approaching Greeve's head.

To his credit, Greeve did not try and retaliate. Instead, he created a portal to his right and sidestepped into it, avoiding Daniel's attack. His attack meeting nothing but air, Daniel landed and stumbled through the snow, losing his footing right in front of Ebon.

Ebon shouted as Daniel collided with him, and the two of them fell backwards into the snow. As they lay groaning, there was a peal of laughter from behind them. Daniel looked up to see Yarrow bending over, hands on his knees, laughing his ass off.

"Oh, my, gosh!" Yarrow gasped out. "You, jumped out of the trees with a stick and, and-"

Unable to finish the sentence, Yarrow surrendered to the laughter. After a moment, he looked up to see Daniel getting up off of Ebon, and burst out laughing once more. "Daniel! You look like a Christmas tree! Oh, oh I can't breathe! I can't breathe!"

Daniel opened his mouth to ask what Yarrow meant, then closed it as he got a look at his arm. The entirety of the parka was covered in sap and evergreen needles. If someone wrapped him in colored lights and put a star on his head, Daniel figured he would probably look exactly like the holiday decoration.

"Good. Then maybe you won't attract Grimm with your noise," Rojoe said as Daniel fruitlessly tried to brush the sticky needles off. "Are you okay Daniel?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Daniel said. "Sorry for scaring you guys."

"Next time use your compiece," Greeve said as he came out of another portal. "This incident could have been avoided if you used proper communication."

"Sorry Greeve," Daniel said sheepishly. "I didn't want the Grimm to hear me."

Greeve's face contorted in confusion before it dawned on him. "You thought that we were Grimm then. I, can see where you might think that."

"Especially with that fall," Ebon said as he accepted a hand from Rojoe and pulled himself to his feet. "I told you to watch out for the trees."

"I'll remember that," Daniel said. "I think I would've been dead without my Aura. And I lost my sword in the fall."

"Here," Greeve said, holding out Daniel's sword. "I found it on top of one of the trees."

As Daniel took the sword and sheathed it in its scabbard, Greeve turned to the rest of his team. "Okay, since we've already regrouped here, we're skipping checkpoint alpha. I want two teams, one for each half of the sector. Yarrow, you and Ebon can't be left alone so you're coming with me to the southwest half. Ro', take Ebon and Daniel to the northeast and show him the ropes. Stay close to each other and stay in radio contact. Questions?"

"Wait. Am I in charge?" Rojoe said excitedly.

Greeve considered her question for a moment before answering. "Since we usually split into pairs that don't require a chain of command, yes. Consider it leadership practice. Any other questions?"

As Rojoe jumped up and down in joy once before composing herself, Yarrow raised a hand and Greeve gritted his teeth. "Yes, Yarrow?"

"I'm just wondering, where did that portal you fell into go?" Yarrow asked with a smug grin on his face.

"It put me next to Daniel's sword," Greeve said quickly before realizing his mistake.

"Which was in a tree, right?" Yarrow continued.

Greeve sighed. "Yes Yarrow. It was on top of a tree."

"Greeve, Ebon is the resident cat here!" Yarrow admonished. "You shouldn't be taking his job like that, it's incredibly rude!"

Greeve took in a deep breath. "Yarrow, tonight you will be performing extra calisthenics. At midnight. And they will conclude the same time that morning calisthenics begin."

Dakota was getting irritated. It had been two-and-a-half minutes since his opponent had entered the ring and he was ready for a fight. The time between both fighters entering the ring and the bell tolling was usually less than thirty seconds; a minute at most. Usually the minute wait would be due to the newcomer dressing down to their shorts, or removing jewelry that would influence the fight. The bull of a man in front of him had already removed his shirt, and the only bling he sported was a nose piercing too small for Dakota to grab on to. He paced the grimy sweat-stained floor on the opposite side of the ring from Dakota, occasionally glancing up at the bell, but in no hurry to take Dakota on.

On the other side, Dakota wiped the sweat from his brow. It had been a long night, with fights ranging from easy wins to brutal battles that tested the resolve of both opponents. Dakota was beat; his Aura had to be virtually drained. Deep down, he knew he should have stopped several fights earlier. He knew this wasn't a fight he could win. This new opponent was going to wipe the floor with him, and it was going to hurt bad. One charge with those horns alone could end his night for good. The smart thing would have been to decline the match and leave the ring with his dignity shattered by the ensuing jeers, but his teeth and body in one piece. But he hadn't, and the reason was simple.

He really didn't care what happened right now.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some late breaking news to share!" the announcer's voice boomed from his box up behind the stands. "We have on our hands a tag team match!"

"What?!" Dakota said. "I didn't call for a tag team!"

Judging from the crowd's reaction however, they did want a tag team. The moment the announcer said the words tag team, the crowd erupted into cheers of excitement. Evidently, double the opponents meant double the amount of people pummeling this upstart that had destroyed everyone in his wake and was acting

"In the left corner, standing at six foot two, weighing two hundred pounds, we have for the first time ever; the Ranch-hand!"

Dakota whipped around to see Nick step through the ropes and raise his fists high to the crowd, who shouted praises and damnations at the newcomer on Dakota's side.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dakota demanded as Nick removed his hat and coat, hanging them on one of the corner poles.

"Just lendin' a hand," Nick said. He unbuckled his revolver and holster from his belt and deposited them in pocket of his coat. "You ain't lookin' too good."

"I'm fine. And I didn't ask for your help."

"Didn't reckon a teammate needs to."

Dakota groaned. "Fine. Just please tell me my second opponent isn't-"

"And in the right corner, standing at five foot eight, weighing nearly a hundred and fifty pounds, please welcome; the, Tie-dye menace?" The announcer said, confusion in his voice at the name.

From behind Dakota's opponent leapt Lewis clad only in a pair of tie-dye biker's shorts, screaming at the top of his lungs. Dakota instinctively raised a hand to cover his eyes.

"Lewis, put a shirt on!" Dakota said exasperatedly.

"Uh, would the Tie-dye menace please put on a shirt?" The announcer said over the screams of disgust from the crowd. "We allow costumes for fighters, but we do ask for some form of modesty."

Lewis stopped screaming and looked around at his audience. They seemed to be in agreement with Dakota's assessment of Lewis' state of undress. Every inch of visible skin from the neck down was covered in a dirty matt of curly blonde hairs. When he had crouched and raised his arms in a menacing posture, they could see his armpit hair; some strands longer and more numerous than the feathers on a feather duster. Bits of debris clung to his hair like ticks on the back of a Beowolf. A bright red blush broke out over Lewis' face, and he slid back underneath the ropes in search of his clothes.

With the crowd now alleviated of Lewis' impromptu exhibitionism, Nick turned back to Dakota. "Listen," with a small cough, "I got round one. You sit tight and rest."

Dakota, who was still staring into the space that Lewis had just vacated, took a moment to return to his senses. When he did and realized what Nick said, the look of horror on his face was replaced with the frown that had been a permanent fixture for the week. "Like hell you do," Dakota replied, pushing Nick backwards into the corner. "I didn't want you to do this. Just let me do my thing, and you can do whatever once I'm done."

Nick opened his mouth to retaliate when the bell finally tolled, signaling the beginning of the match. Not wanting to get kicked from the fight, Nick retreated behind the ropes, grimly preparing for the carnage that was about to ensue.

As he did so in every previous fight, Dakota immediately launched himself at his opponent. He started off with two roundhouse punches to the jaw, one with each fist. The two blows that had sent previous opponents reeling in shock barely fazed the Faunus in front of him. He retaliated and threw a punch at Dakota's side, which Dakota sloppily redirected into a grazing blow rather than a direct hit. Even so, the force behind the punch sent Dakota stumbling into the ropes. Trying to make the best of his position, Dakota threw his leg up to hit his opponent in the gut, but the Faunus caught his leg and held on tight.

Dakota growled and tried to pull his leg free, but the massive meaty appendage holding it in place was more akin to a vise than a hand. Dakota threw a few punches, but his position made them so weak that the Faunus didn't even attempt to block them.

The Faunus grinned and wrapped his other hand around Dakota's leg to toss him into the air. Dakota slammed into the ropes and almost fell through. Dakota barely held on to the ropes and was pulling himself back into the ring when he was kneed in the gut by his opponent. The ropes creaked beneath the forces, threatening to break loose from the corner poles. Trapped between the ropes and the knee, Dakota was hit again and again while the crowd cheered his assailant on. As Dakota slammed into the ropes for a sixth time, his Aura pitifully glowed to life around him before breaking up and dissipating. Any other hits he'd have to take the full force of.

"And it looks like the tank is running dry on the Alley-smasher!" the announcer cried out. "He should have stopped while he was ahead folks, he's no match for the Bastard of the Bullpen!"

Dakota's opponent, the Bastard, leered at Dakota, lining up a right hook to knock Dakota out of the fight and into next week. For a brief second however, he hesitated. Whether it was to aim the shot or to savor the moment, it was all Dakota needed.

Dakota looked up at his opponent exhaustion painted on his face. His feet however played a different tune. Dakota planted them firmly on the mat, bent his knees slightly, and waited.

The punch came whirling towards Dakota like the propeller of an airship. Dakota extended his knees and pushed back the moment before the punch was to connect. Instead of his fist connecting with Dakota's jaw, the Bastard instead found his fist meeting nothing but air. Overextending, his body twisted to the side, exposing a massive tattooed hairy side to Dakota; exactly what he wanted. Dakota launched off of the ropes and hit the Bastard in the side with his shoulder. The off-balance Faunus stumbled backwards as Dakota rolled over his opponent and onto the mat where he rolled backwards until he finally came to a stop by hitting the pole in his corner.

Despite Dakota escaping what they had expected to be the final blow, the crowd, loving a good show, cheered at his miraculous escape. On Dakota's side however, things were much less positive. His right shoulder, the one that had collided with the Bastard, felt like it was on fire. A quick glance at its awkward angle confirmed Dakota's suspicions; it was dislocated. Using his good arm, Dakota stumbled to his feet. The Bastard got up as well, shaken and surprised at the maneuver, but leering confidently at the battered teenager in front of him. Dakota was dirty, bruised, and barely able to stand in one spot and clutch his dislocated shoulder; much less put up a fight. The Bastard had gotten multiple hits in that brought Dakota to his limits, and he'd barely managed a handful of solid hits. Grimacing, Dakota prepared to pop his shoulder back in place and continue the fight when the he felt a rough hand gently tap his good shoulder.

"And the Ranch hand has signaled he's tagging in! looks like Alley-smasher's luck will hold out!"

"Nick, let it go," Dakota muttered as Nick leapt over the ropes and into the ring next to Dakota. "Once I go down, you and Lewis can go," his voice trailed off as Nick walked in front of him.

In the past several months, Dakota and Nick had sparred countless times together; mostly because they were the two members of their group that had any skill at all. It was oddly calming to go at someone with just your bare fists. No weapons, no dust, just your own two fists and feet. Combined with how they shared a room together and had seen their team shirtless on multiple occasions, it was no small wonder that Dakota had never noticed something so obvious about his friend. Nick was absolutely ripped.

As Nick took to the middle of the ring, his back muscles rippled and rolled as he stretched his arms from side to side. With every movement, his biceps seemed to strain against his skin; begging to be freed. he slammed his feet into a defensive stance and the reverberations against the ring sounded like distant cannon fire.

Nick turned and gave his teammate a smile before turning to his opponent and rasping out three words.

"You ready Bastard?"

Daniel, Rojoe, and Ebon moved carefully through the snowy brush in single file, scouting the area for Grimm. They had arrived in their assigned area several minutes ago, and had so far only come across a handful of smaller Nevermore, which they had ignored for the time being. In contrast to the slow turns of his compatriot's gazes as they scoured their surroundings, Daniel's glances were quick and darting from one point to another. It had dawned on him shortly after the two groups had split up that he became fully aware of his situation. They were deep in the middle of a snowy forest infested with Grimm that they were in charge of reducing their numbers to a more 'manageable' level. They were out of range of the CCTS, on their own, and could be overrun and eaten by Grimm without anyone even knowing until they didn't report back on time. He didn't know where the insane bravery that he had during the Emerald Forest initiation had gone, but he'd give anything right now to have it back right now.

Rojoe held up a closed fist as a signal to stop, but Daniel was looking to the side and didn't notice her until he ran into her. The collision startled him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin in fright.

"Sorry hitting you," Daniel apologized. "I wasn't paying at-"

He was stopped by Rojoe turning around and putting a hand over Daniel's mouth. "Stop saying you're sorry," she instructed. "Your mistakes are the reason we're out here. You need experience, and we're going to see that you get it. Understand?"

Daniel nodded, and Rojoe removed her hand from his mouth. "Okay listen," she said. "See the wreck in that clearing?" she pointed ahead of her, and Daniel saw that they had indeed come to the edge of the forest. Ten feet beyond them was a large clearing in the forest. The snowfall had smoothed the terrain nearly flat; save for a pair of mounds at one end of the clearing, and an ancient wooden airship directly across the clearing from the group. Its deck and masts were covered in snow and icicles, and the tattered flag of the defunct Kingdom of Mantle hung wearily from the top of the mast. Its hull was filled with gaping holes and it sat tilted to the starboard in the drifts of snow.

"A wreck like that is bound to have a Grimm nest within. We're going to go into the clearing and exposing ourselves to draw out the Grimm. Ebon, you're on overwatch until we reach the crash. Proceed with caution and follow my lead. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why do you sound like Greeve all of the sudden?" Daniel asked.

As soon as Daniel mentioned Greeve's name, what little Daniel could see of Rojoe's face flushed a bright pink as she looked away. "Because he's a capable leader and I respect him for that!" she said quickly.

"He's also an oblivious moron who has the observational qualities of a stump when it comes to emotions," Ebon chimed in. "I don't think he even notices how you act around him."

"Ebon, I swear. If you don't shut up, I'm going to-"

"Greeve to Detachment Bravo, what's your status, over?"

"D-detachment Bravo here, we're all fine totally fine, everything's fine how are you!" Rojoe shot off.

"We just finished off a colony of Ursa and are following the tracks of several beowolves. What is your sector looking like?"

"Oh it's fine, perfectly fine."

Behind Daniel, Ebon sighed and keyed his mic. "Detachment Alpha, this is Ebon. No sight of any Grimm types so far. We've come to a clearing and are about to fish for targets."

There was a pause on the other end before Greeve spoke again. "Very well Detachment Bravo, proceed with caution. If you haven't found any Grimm by next check in, leave and return to this sector."

"Confirmed, Detachment Bravo, I mean Alpha, Over and out." Rojoe said. She turned off her mic, and turned around to Ebon. The panther Faunus gazed back at her stormy glare with a visage that said, 'you know I'm right.'

"Not, one, word," Rojoe said. "Just shut up and get up a tree for overwatch."

Ebon raised an eyebrow, but chose not to further antagonize his teammate. He turned to a tree to their left and leapt into the air and floated into one of the evergreens, which he gracefully scaled on all fours. Once he was at the top, he pulled out his two pistols and leveled them at the clearing. Rojoe glanced up to ensure he was in place before carefully leading Daniel out of the forest and into the clearing.

The moment Daniel entered the clearing, his fear skyrocketed. With the fear, came a splitting headache which he responded to by rubbing his left temple. They were about halfway through the clearing when Ebon noticed his struggles.

"Ebon to Daniel, are you alright?" Ebon asked over the radio. "You look like you're nursing a hangover all of a sudden."

Daniel stopped and waved his hand back at Ebon. The headache was painful, but bearable. He'd be fine."

As if to contradict Daniel's thoughts, the ground beneath their feet began to rumble, nearly throwing Daniel and Rojoe to the ground. The two mounds Daniel had noticed began to move, as two massive metal creatures rose from fetal positions with a horrendous screech of joints that hadn't been oiled in years. By the time they rose to their full height of over fifteen feet, they were nearly as tall as many of the evergreens surrounding the clearing. Blood-red eyes burst into life behind their metal masks, and they peered down at the two students.

"Arma Gigai," Rojoe gasped. "They must have fallen out of the ship when she crashed and gotten taken over by Geists!"

"What's the plan?" Daniel asked, trying to ignore the headache that was increasing even further.

Rojoe's eyes furrowed, and she opened her mouth to issue an order, but held her tongue and glanced over at Daniel. She groaned and keyed her microphone. "Ebon, we're moving into the ship. Draw them over to your position, then meet up with us in the interior. I'll, figure something out then."

"I thought you said the airship would have a nest!" Daniel protested as Ebon began firing on the two colossi. His rounds merely pinged off of their armor, but succeeded in drawing their attention over to him. With lumbering steps, they turned and began storming over to Ebon, drawing massive swords from sheaths at their sides.

"I can handle a Grimm nest. I can't take on two Gigai while babysitting you as well," Rojoe said forcefully. She grabbed Daniel by the arm and began dragging him towards the airship.

"I don't need babysitting!"

"Yes, you do!" Rojoe said fiercely. "You are grossly untrained for a freshman at the end of his first semester, and those are two of the most challenging Grimm to defeat! Now shut up and COME ON!"

The bell dinged, and both Nick and the Bastard began circling the ring counter clockwise. The Bastard's gait was jerky as he constantly tried to fake out Nick, draw him into making a move that would spell his doom. Nick on the other hand kept his pace slow and methodical, matching the Bastard's rotation.

"You shouldn't-a come -ere cowboy," the Bastard said. "I got beef with Alley Smasher on accounts of his conduct. Step out, or I'll make ya."

"Alley-Smasher is a piece-o-work, but he's a friend," Nick rasped. "You gonna have to go through me to get him."

The Bastard gave Nick a cockeyed grin before crossing the ring in two steps and throwing a right hook at Nick with a left jab aimed wide to catch Nick in the face when he dodged. Such a blow would catch his opponent off guard and allow him free reign to pummel the teenager into submission. But contrary to expectations, Nick caught the first blow

The crowd roared in astonishment as the ensuing jab meeting no resistance threw the Bastard off balance. As the second blow sailed harmlessly over his shoulder, Nick grabbed the Bastard by one of his horns and threw him into the ropes.

As the Bastard struggled to get back up out of the ropes, Nick made a second unexpected action. Rather than take advantage of his foe's defenseless state, Nick instead took a step back and waited for him to get back up.

"Ain't too nice hitting a man when he's down," Nick said to the Bastard. "But you don't know nothin' 'bout being nice now do ya?"

Taking a step back to avoid the Bastard's furious leg sweep, Nick watched as the Bastard leapt to his feet and charged straight at him, fists winding up to deliver a flurry of blows. Nick caught both fists and stopped the Faunus in his tracks.

"Mister I've licked bulls in fights who were better than you," Nick said. "You ain't gonna win by punchin' me out."

The Bastard roared in anger and slammed his forehead into Nick's. The blow stunned Nick slightly, and he stumbled backwards, giving room for two sharp kicks to his sternum. Nick let go of the fists and ducked around the Bastard, giving himself room to clear his head.

"So, you grew up on a farm didja?" the Bastard sneered. "Whatd'ja do in your free time; screw the family hogs?"

Nick stood up straight and gave the Bastard a smile. "Not after your sis moved into the pen. She was uglier than an Ursa's backside."

Unfortunately for Nick, the Bastard had been waiting for him to give a reply. As Nick spoke, he launched himself at Nick, delivering several solid blows to his face. Nick was forced to take several steps backwards as his Aura flared underneath the incessant pummeling. Finally managing to catch one of his fists, Nick used it to shove the Bastard back enough to get his foot in. One solid kick, and the Bastard was sent tumbling over to the other side of the ring.

"So, tell me farm boy?" the Bastard said as he advanced back into the center. "What brings you -ere to the big city? Village take yer farm and ya need money to get it back? Get caught screwin too many pigs?"

The Bastard threw another punch, but Nick dodged out of the way. He had tasted the strength of the man's blows and didn't want anything to do with them whatsoever.

"Oh, wait, I got it," the Bastard said. "Pappy didn't love you enough and kicked you out as soon as he was able? I bet you ain't even allowed to step foot in town before you make a name for yourself."

Nick slowly blinked twice, his head tilting to one side. He then took two steps forward and clocked the Bastard with a roundhouse that sent shockwaves throughout the crowd. The Bastard's head snapped to the side, and Nick dodged the blind jabs to slam his palms into the Bastard's ears, perforating his eardrums. Two more jabs, and the man was up against the ropes, blood spewing from a nose that had been practically sunken into his face. Binded by the pain and the blood, the Bastard didn't see the uppercut that lifted him off the ground and over the ropes. Blissful unconsciousness swiftly followed, and he was out like a light before his body landed on top of several unfortunate members of the crowd.

"And the Bastard goes down to a furious combo from the Ranch Hand!" the announcer called out.

As Nick stood triumphantly on the ring, the crowd's reaction was mixed to say the least. A not insignificant portion of them booed at him for supporting Dakota and beating what would have been his destruction. But the rest of them were cheering loudly for the surprising turn of events.

Nick turned around to an equally astonished Dakota and reached into the duster hanging over one of the poles.

"You never sparred like that," Dakota said in as deadpan of a voice he could manage. Secretly, he was impressed by Nick's degree of skill, but did his best to keep it to himself. He didn't want to be superseded as the brawler of the group.

"Don't reckon I ever needed to," Nick said as he rummaged around in one of his pockets.

Dakota frowned at the perceived insult. He was certain he'd won at least at least a couple of their spars. "Well, I'm taking this round so move aside Ochre."

Nick opened his mouth to tell Dakota otherwise, but then reconsidered and closed it tight. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and began dabbing the dripping sweat from his brow as he ducked underneath the ropes and surrendered the corner to Dakota. As he slid underneath the ropes, the handkerchief slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground near the front row seats. Nick muttered a curse, and bent down to retrieve it, only for a hand from the crowd to thrust out and scoop it up for him.

"Thanks," Nick said as he accepted the cloth.

"Don't mention it," the man said. He was wearing a gray janitor's uniform with the name Oskar stenciled on the front of it. It looked as if he'd just come off work and had went directly to the fight club. "You're friends with the Brawler, aint'cha? Pretty brave to take on the Bastard for him."

"He's havin' a bad day," Nick said. "I'm just here to be sure he don't git hurt."

Oskar winced. "Yeesh. Girl problems?"

"Problems," Nick said simply. He finished wiping off the sweat and slid the handkerchief back into his duster pocket. By then, Lewis had reentered the ring, this time wearing his jeans and a loose fitting white tank top he'd gotten from somewhere. He was gleefully bouncing up and down in his corner, seemingly excited for the fight.

"And it seems that the Alleyway Brawler has gotten his steam back folks! But will it be enough to vanquish the newcomer in the ring? Who will win? The fresh face with a perchance for nudity, or the hard boiled veteran of tonight's fights? Alleyway vs Tie-Dye, let's get ready to rumble!"

The bell dinged, and Dakota charged his teammate, who yelped in surprise mid jump and stumbled out of the way, barely in time to miss the first punch. He fell onto his rear to the amusement of the audience.

"Come on Lewis, let me make this quick," Dakota said. "They won't let us leave without a fight, so the sooner you go down the better."

"Don't worry Dakota, you won't have to fight me," Lewis said calmly as he stood up and resumed bouncing.

"Why, because your 'spirits' told you so?"

"No man, because Nick asked me to do a big favor."

Before Dakota could ask what the big favor was, the door to the underground fighting ring was blown off of its hinges. Patrons screamed and ducked as the two heavy wooden slabs cartwheeled over their heads and embedded themselves into the floor of the ring itself. Several metal cylinders were thrown into the room and began spewing smoke, creating a cloudy haze that made it nigh on impossible to see beyond ten feet. Over the intercom, the announcer said the three words that chilled the bones of every patron of an underground fighting ring.

"It's a raid! It's a raid! Everyone get, argh!"

From the smoke emerged dozens of police officers and huntsmen, wildly swinging clubs and weapons to subdue as many of the people inside as possible. They cut a swath through the crowd and began branching out once they reached the ring, taking down anyone who attempted to resist. Which was most actually.

Dakota, having turned to look at what was going on, turned back around to see Lewis standing on the other side of the doors, beaming broadly at his teammate. It didn't take a genius to figure out how the police and huntsmen had found the place.

"You called the cops?!" Dakota asked incredulously.

As Daniel and Rojoe arrived at the wrecked airship, Rojoe practically shoved Daniel into one of the holes in its hull. Daniel slid down the snow in the interior before coming to rest on the sloped deck. Rojoe didn't follow him, and instead watched from the outside to be sure he was safe. "Are their Grimm down there? She asked."

"No," Daniel answered.

"Good," Rojoe said. "I'm going to kill the Gigai with Ebon. Stay here until I give the all clear."

"There's got to be something I can do," Daniel protested as she turned around to run into battle.

"Sweep the ship," Rojoe said, turning to back to face Daniel. "If you see Grimm, kill them. You know how to clear a room, right?"

"Uhhhhhh, kind of?" Daniel answered hesitantly.

"Gods, What the hell did they teach you at Beacon?" Rojoe said in exasperation.

"Uh, Rojoe, what happened to my help?" Ebon asked over the radio.

"I'll be right there!" Rojoe shouted. "Daniel, don't do anything stupid!" She turned around once more and ran off to join her comrade. Within seconds, the sounds of gunfire were intermixed with the sounds of Rojoe's yells and the striking of her tonfas against the armored warriors.

Grumbling, Daniel raised his sword and pistol, and began surveying the interior. It was dark, and had there not been holes in the sides, Daniel was certain that he wouldn't be able to see at all. Snow covered most of the floor before finally stopping a few feet from the other side of the ship. Crates and barrels lined the far side of the deck, suggesting that this was the cargo deck. A staircase to his right led up to the next deck of the ship, which Daniel walked over to and began climbing. The old wooden planks creaked underneath Daniel's foot with each step.

The next deck was similar to the previous deck in size, but not in layout. The deck was littered with posts, both standing and broken, from which tattered hammocks hung stiff with ice. Several lanterns hung from chains, occasionally swinging and creaking in the wind coming from the holes. A cooking range sat in the middle of the mess. The last, and most glaring difference between the two decks however, was that this one was occupied.

On the other side of the deck, a family of Ursa lay snoozing on a pile of rags, shredded hammocks, and burlap sacks. There were four of them in total, two older Usai, and two smaller that were like cubs to the older parents. The largest of them, an Ursa major, was so tall the spines on its back nearly scraped the top of the floor of the next deck up every time it inhaled. They hadn't yet noticed the commotion outside, but seemed in Daniel's eyes to be stirring and would fully wake with the slightest of provocation.

Daniel didn't dare move, didn't dare breathe. The last thing that he wanted to do was to wake these beasts up. His headache had substantially increased since he became aware of the Grimm, and now felt like jackhammers were pounding away at his skull. One part of his mind that wasn't taken up by the pain said he should warn Ebon and Rojoe, but the rest said it would distract them, or even wake up the Ursai and spell the end for Daniel. As it turned out however, Daniel didn't have to move to alert the Grimm. He had forgotten that things were different since the last time he encountered Grimm and they ignored him for the most part. This time, he was surrounded by an Aura.

The largest Ursa's glowing red eyes burst open and it lumbered to its feet. It's spines gouged furrows into the wood above, and the other three Grimm were disturbed by its movements and noise. Within seconds, the family of Ursai were up and glaring at their next meal. Low growls reverberated from their beings, and Daniel felt a chill wash over him.

"Daniel to all. There's Ursai in the ship," Daniel said, his voice quivering in fear.

The Alpha Ursa let out a thunderous roar and charged towards Daniel. Having few options and none of them particularly good, Daniel raised his pistol and began firing rounds into the thundering menace as he practically flew up the next flight of steps. The large fire dust rounds burrowed into the beast, but it would take more than just a handful of shots from a pistol to stop something so large. If anything, the rounds did more to anger the Ursa than to hurt it.

Daniel reached the next deck and slammed the hatch shut on the stairs as the Ursa below began to tear them to pieces in an attempt to get at Daniel. With nothing to lock the hatch shut, Daniel glanced around for something he could use to hold it shut. Whereas the previous two decks had been for cargo and living quarters respectively, this was clearly the gun deck of the airship. Both sides housed sixteen large brass cannons apiece, all still held in place by ropes in pullies behind closed gun ports. One such cannon on the port side was nearly lined up with the hatch. Daniel ran over to it and began hacking at the ropes with his saber, trying to free it from its place. After cutting several lines, the remaining ropes snapped, and the cannon rolled free of its position. Daniel tried to push it towards the hatch, but the massive cannon and carriage refused to roll anywhere but its seemingly predestined path. One of the wheels ran over his foot, and Daniel winced as his Aura absorbed most of the weight. The cannon continued on its path before clipping the side of the cannon opposite to it, and twisting to the side and coming to a stop. Its long barrel sat over the hatch, but the wheeled carriage that Daniel had wanted to be over the hatch was not.

"Oh come on!" Daniel yelled. He ran to the back of the cannon, and began pushing, trying to move the cannon a couple inches forward so that its front wheels at least sat on the hatch. The task, which normally took several men in peak strength to accomplish, was instead managed by the adrenaline-fueled craze that Daniel was currently in. the wooden wheels creaked and groaned, but moved forwards at a snail's pace. The front wheels were just about to cross onto the hatch, when it was thrust upwards by the snout of the Alpha Ursa.

The only thing that saved Daniel from the Ursa climbing upwards and killing him was the cannon barrel itself. While not resting directly on top of the hatch, it did hang over it, and that was enough to keep the hatch from opening high enough to let the Ursa in. As it was, the sudden appearance of the beast and its subsequent roar were enough to catch Daniel by surprise. Screaming, Daniel pulled his pistol back out and unloaded the remaining three rounds in the magazine toward the Ursa. Two struck the deck around the Ursa, and the third knocked part of a bony ridge off the Ursa's face. Casting his pistol aside, Daniel then unsheathed his saber and stabbed the Ursa in an eye. Black ooze gushed from the damaged organ, and the Ursa roared in agony. The head disappeared from the entryway, and the hatch slammed shut on Daniel's saber. Wasting no time, Daniel yanked the sword free and shoved the cannon the final feet onto the hatchway. Just in time, as blows from the Ursa thudded against the heavy wood. The hatch shuddered and jumped, but did not open.

Daniel slumped against the carriage and breathed a sigh of relief. As he caught his breath, he realized that his earpiece was practically exploding with calls from team GREY

"Grayed five, report in!"

"Daniel, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry Daniel! I should have kept you out here with us!"

Daniel took a deep breath, and keyed his mic. "Grayed Five. I, I'm all right."

"What is going on? Do you require any assistance?" the voice of Greeve asked while the other three voices shouted in relief.

"No, I think I've got it right now," Daniel said as he stood up and collected his pistol and saber. He flicked the blade clean of the black ooze from the Ursa and slid it into its sheath before dropping the empty magazine and sliding a fresh one into his pistol. "I had a scare with an Alpha Ursa I think, but I don't think it can get to me."

"Why aren't you with the rest of your team? I told you to stick with them!"

Daniel went over to the port side and pushed the recently vacated gun port open. The battle between Rojoe, Ebon, and the two Arma Gigai was still going on, and was not in the Huntsmen-in-training's favor. Ebon was sitting on the back of one of them, firing his two revolvers into the base of its neck. The Gigas reached up to squash Ebon, and Ebon flipped off the neck and floated to the ground. Rojoe was slashing at the legs of the other Grimm with her tonfas, but was achieving little more than denting the outer metal.

"Welllll," Daniel said awkwardly, "I'm here because, they sent me into the airship so they could fight the Arma Gigai." Daniel said.

"Daniel!" Rojoe shouted.

There was a pause on the radio, and Daniel could practically see Greeve rubbing his eyelids in frustration. "Team two, we're on our way. Keep it distracted for a few more minutes. Retreat to the airship if you have to, just don't let it get away."

"Grayed one, we can handle thi-OOOOF!" Rojoe said as the Gigas she was fighting got a hit in and kicked her into the air. She rocketed into one of the trees at the edge of the clearing, and slid down to the bottom, seemingly dazed.

"Grayed two, we are inbound. Do not fight the Gigai directly. Repeat, do not fight the Gigai directly. Keep it delayed."

"Wait a second," Yarrow said suspiciously. "Did I hear a plural in Daniel's report? Are you guys actually trying to fight several Arma Gigai on your own?"

"Two of them," Ebon said.

"Ebon, not you too," Rojoe protested, still dazed from her impact.

"Airship. Now." Greeve ordered.

"Wait, can you keep fighting them?" Daniel asked. An idea was forming in his mind. It wasn't a particularly good idea, but his last one was to try and steer a cannon on an incline, so today was not one for good ideas. He stuck his head back inside the hull and looked at the cannon next to him. The brass was old and tarnished, but the flintlock mechanism at the end that seemed to fire the gun looked intact. There were several rods and instruments hanging on the wall next to it, and an open box sat on the ground with a handful of balls and bags of fire Dust.

"What for Grayed five?" Greeve asked.

"I think I might have a way to take out the Gigai," Daniel said. He let go of the hatch to the gun port, and pushed the next one open. Not a good angle. He ran over to the far side of the deck and peered out of the gun port. Still not perfect, but it would have to do. The crate next to this cannon was empty, so he ran back to the cannon he had been standing next to and retrieved the partially full box. Kicking the empty crate out of the way, he set the new crate down and pulled a bag of fire Dust.

"Okay," Daniel muttered to himself as he reached up to the front of the gun and pushed the bag down the barrel. "You're about to fire a great war gun, probably not used in decades, and hope it doesn't blow up on you. Totally not a scary thought." He picked up the cannonball and, grunting from the weight, pushed it into the barrel as well. He glanced around for something to push the two to the back of the barrel, and selected a long rod with a bristly tip on the end covered with frost and ice. It took a couple of shoves, but he finally got the powder and the ball to the back of the barrel. He then moved to the back of the cannon and stared at the flintlock firing mechanism.

"Daniel to Yarrow."

"Yarrow here."

"Do you know how to use something with a flintlock?"

"Push the front part forward, add a bit of fire Dust to the pan, close it up, and pull the back part back. Why do you ask?"

"Thanks," Daniel said, too busy searching for some loose fire Dust to answer his question. He settled on slitting one of the Dust bags open and pinching some of the Dust out of the bag and sprinkling it onto the pan. He then did as Yarrow instructed and pulled both pieces back.

"Daniel, a flintlock musket isn't going to pierce their armor," Rojoe said. "You'll be lucky to even hit it at this range."

"Yep," Daniel grunted as he braced himself against the side of the ship and pulled on a piece of rope he hoped would pull the cannon forward. His hopes were rewarded, and the cannon moved through the gun port. It was tough work to move it on the incline. He slackened his grip a couple of times, and the cannon slid back precious inches. But after a minute of tugging, the gun was in place. He leaned behind the cannon and closed one eye. One of the Armored Gigai was close, extremely close to being in front of the cannon, but it wasn't quite there. All he needed was a few more meters, just a half step backwards for the giant Grimm; but the Grimm seemed intent on staying rooted in place. Daniel groaned in frustration and exertion; he couldn't hold the cannon in place much longer.

Three things happened at in quick succession, the second of which was missed by Daniel. The first thing was the splintering of wood behind Daniel as the Alpha Ursa burst from the deck below. The beast roared in triumph, and Daniel screamed in fright, unable to defend himself or escape from it. The beast's single eye glared at him in anger, and Daniel let go of the rope with his left hand to get his pistol. As he was preoccupied with the Ursa in front of him, he failed to see one of the Arma Gigai get hit in the knee by an Ebon tossed by Rojoe. It stumbled into the first, and the two took a step backwards to keep from falling.

The third thing that happened was actually unintentional. As Daniel tried to pull his pistol free form its holster, his elbow hit the release switch for the flintlock. The hammer sprung forward with grace unbefitting its age, and struck the steel in front of it. The resulting sparks landed in the fire dust below igniting the crystals and sending a burst of flame down to the Dust bag in the barrel.

There was an explosion like thunder, and the cannonball burst through a cloud of smoke and fire out of the barrel and slammed into the nearest Arma Gigas. The cannon jerked jumped backwards, straining against the ropes that held it in place. For a moment, the ropes held. But they were ancient, and had been holding the cannon in place for far too long. They snapped in quick succession, and the cannon was free to slide down the deck, running over Daniel's foot as they passed by. Daniel was still holding on to the only rope still attached to the cannon, and found himself at the mercy of physics and two tons of cannon and carriage on an incline. He didn't even have time to yell in pain when the cannon rolled over his foot once more before being yanked forwards and colliding with the side of the ship. Dazed by the blow and facing the wrong way, he didn't see the cannon lodge itself in the mouth of the roaring Ursa and send the two falling backwards. Nor did he see that the cannonball had smashed through the right arm of one of the Arma Gigai and halfway through its torso. The force of the ball sent the damaged behemoth and its companion to the ground where they struggled to free themselves.

What Daniel did notice as he peeled himself from the side of the ship was the crunching of timbers as the Ursa and cannon broke through the timber of the deck below and fell into the cargo area. There was a massive explosion from below and a column of fire burst through the holes in the deck. The last thing Daniel felt before being knocked unconscious was the heat and shockwave ripping through him and tossing him into the side of the ship once more.

"I hope that you and your teammates enjoyed yourselves, Mister Harding, because this is the last time that you will be fighting outside of this school until you graduate," Professor Goodwitch said firmly.

Dakota sat fuming in the dimly lit conference room, or interrogation, center as many students like to call it. It seemed that whenever the teachers or faculty wanted to have a chat with a student, they'd take them here. The only light in the room was that of a small overhead light hanging over the small table in the middle of the room. Lewis and Nick sat in chairs behind him, looking a bit worse for wear. When the police broke in and arrested the occupants of the club, they hadn't given the combatants time to put their clothes back on. Dakota had gone to the fight without his regular attire, so the only thing he had lost was an old t-shirt he'd taken off before fighting. Nick had also lost his shirt, but had time to pull his duster on before being pushed against the ring pole. Lewis was the worst off. He and Nick had tailed Dakota that night without the intention of actually getting into the ring and had dressed accordingly. Lewis had been wearing his favorite tie-die shirt, and a brown vest he'd worn for the occasion. In the confusion of the raid, he couldn't get off the ring in time to save them and had lost them both.

"Furthermore," Professor Goodwitch said, "all three of you will have detention every day of every weekend for a month. Mister Harding, your record forces us to place you on academic probation. If you fail any of your classes this semester, or give cause for further disciplinary action, you will be expelled." She emphasized her point with a slap of her riding crop against the table.

Lewis and Nick winced from the sharpness of the blow, but Dakota ignored it, glowering at the gray surface of the table. He had hardly said a word since the police had arrested them, only opening his mouth to answer a question from on officer. The only contact he made with his companions was to occasionally shoot an irritated glare at them, especially Lewis

"Now it is extremely late, and it is a school night. I want you three to return to your quarters and remain there until the morning. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Professor," The three of the chorused.

"Now go," Professor Goodwitch commanded.

The three of them got up at once and made for the exit behind them. Dakota shoved past his two teammates, and got to the door before them. Practically running, he yanked the door open and stormed towards their dorms. Lewis and Nick glanced at each other before sprinting off after him.

"Dakota, wait," Nick said as loud as his voice let him.

"Why? So you can screw things up for me again?" Dakota said over his shoulder.

"Come on Dakota, we wanted to help you," Lewis said.

Dakota abruptly stopped and whirled around to face them. "Then maybe you shouldn't have jumped in that ring," he said. "I was perfectly fine with getting my ass handed to me in there. But now I'm on academic probation, and if I'm going to be honest, I'm probably not going to pass most of my classes, meaning I'm good as expelled at this point So thanks a lot you two. You somehow one-upped Glas on people who've betrayed me this year. But keep trying, because maybe you can still top Daniel."

The bruised and battered teenager went to leave his teammates, but was stopped by Nick's hand firmly placed over his shoulder. He turned around to tell his teammate to shove off, but was abruptly shoved against the wall. Nick got up in Dakota's face, and Dakota swore his eyes were steelier than those of any social worker he had to deal with since getting thrown into the system. The force Nick was applying with just one hand was tremendous. He doubted he could get free of his teammate even if he was well rested and with a load of Dust coursing through his system.

"You need, to calm down, now," Nick said. "There ain't a single person in our team that's happy at Daniel for pissin' off like he did. But bitchin' and moanin' to us ain't gonna fix a damn thing.

Dakota opened his mouth to protest, but Nick cut him off by shoving even further into the wall, practically lifting him off the ground a few inches. "I was not done talkin' yet. Now I'm getting a little tired of the attitude you've had towards everyone on the team since Daniel left. It ain't nice to take your anger out on us for somethin' we had nothin' to do with. So you're gonna stop now, you hear?"

Dakota opened his mouth once more, but Nick cut him off. "The next words you say had better be 'I hear you Nick', or I'm gonna show you what the Bastard went through before I knocked his lights out, you hear?"

Dakota took a deep breath and looked his friend in the eyes. "I hear you Nick."

"Good," Nick said, letting him go. Dakota slid down to the ground and sat there, slightly surprised having been on the business end of Nick's full strength.

Nick bent down and offered his teammate a hand. "Come on now. That floor is nasty and Goodwitch was right. This is a school night."

Dakota took the hand and was hauled back up to his feet. The two of them set off once again towards their dorm. Lewis followed slightly behind, glancing back and forth between the two teenagers, wondering what exactly had just happened.

When Daniel finally came to, he was in some sort of bed. Groaning, he shifted in place, and encountered something hard and plastic on the sides of his bed. He opened his eyes and found that he was in his least favorite bed in his least favorite place in his least favorite place in the world. A hospital bed in a hospital. Memories of his incarceration filled his mind and he instantly began panicking.

Daniel bolted up from the bed and ripped the bedsheets off himself. Throwing them to the side, he had a leg out over the side and was preparing to clamber out when several hands reached out and held him in place, keeping him from escaping.

"Get off!" he shouted. "Get away from me you psycho!"

"Daniel, calm down!" a voice demanded.

Daniel threw a punch in the direction of the voice, only for it to be grabbed before it could connect. Daniel whipped his head around to see that the restraining hands were in fact those of Greeve, Rojoe, and Ebon.

"You're in a hospital, you're okay," Ebon said. "You've been out for a couple of hours, you had us worried."

Daniel took deep breaths, struggling to contain himself. "Worried, what, what are you talking about?" he panted.

"You mean you don't remember the greatest kill of your life?" another voice said to the right of the group. Daniel looked over to see the sheets he had thrown off his bed covering someone at the foot of his bed. The someone pulled the sheets off of their head to reveal themselves to be Yarrow. "We were in a training exercise to clear some Grimm out and you blew up an airship."

Daniel blinked. "Come again?"

"Yeah, you remember an old wooden airship? You shot a cannon at an Arma Gigas and set off the rest of the ship in the process. Took out both Gigai while you were at it."

At the mentioning of the Gigai, it all came back to Daniel. The hike through the snow-covered woods, the giant metal behemoths, being sent into a crashed airship and firing its guns, cannon rolling backwards and crushing the Ursa underneath."

"There, was an Ursa," Daniel said.

"You're remembering," Greeve said. "You told us on the radio. There weren't any traces of Ursa in the wreckage, but there wasn't much wreckage left to begin with.

"No, that's not what I mean," Daniel said. "One of the Ursa broke through the deck. I accidentally fired the cannon, and it rolled into the Ursa. That's the last thing I remember."

"Hmmmm, Ursa plus two-ton cannon verses old planks," Yarrow mused. That could have set any Dust in the hold if they fell through. Those crates were designed to keep the Dust from going off if it got jostled around, but there's not much you can do when a cannon crushes it. Yeah, that's probably what happened."

"So how did I get out?" Daniel asked. He looked himself over, expecting to see bandages covering burns and lacerations, but found only a few small bandaids.

"It was your Aura Generator," Greeve said. "It's the only reason you made it out was because of your Aura Generator. You burned out half the conductors and the battery is fried, but it saved you."

"Wait, back up," Ebon said. "That cannonball crippled the Arma Gigas and knocked it's brother over. You're saying it was an accident?"

"Yeah, it hit?" Daniel asked. "I couldn't get the cannon aimed at it."

"That's not surprising," Greeve said. "Smoothbore cannons were never very accurate."

"Okay, so what happened next?" Daniel asked.

"Well, Greeve had us running to the north of you guys, but the explosion brought us in the right direction," Yarrow said. "By the time we got there, the Geist in the last Arma Gigas made a run for it. Called in an extract, and brought you here."

"So it was a bust then," Daniel said with a sigh. "Sorry I screwed things up." He put a hand to his head in embarrassment. He'd had one job to do, and he couldn't even get that right."

"You kidding? This couldn't have gone more perfect!" Yarrow said excitedly. "You took out two Arma Gigas, and a family of Ursa with a single cannon! Easily the Grim kill of the week, maybe even the month!"

"The point of this mission was for us to learn how you fight, and how skilled you are," Greeve said. "What we learned was your skills in combat or situational awareness aren't where they need to be, but you're quick to think on your feet and improvise. I think that some of us underestimated you," he added, looking over at Rojoe. Rojoe glanced awkwardly at Daniel then turned away, a red flush creeping on to her embarrassed face.

"What I think our esteemed leader with the social skills of a steel I-beam is trying to say is, welcome to the team," Ebon said.

The words hit Daniel with a burst of mixed feelings. Feelings of acceptance mixed with pangs from the recent past. He couldn't help but remember the last group that had accepted him and how he had returned their trust. He could only hope that this time things turned out for the better.

Daniel took a deep breath and put on his best happy face. "Thanks guys. I guess it's good to be on board."


End file.
